The Show Ends with Youby Discord KantusChaptersPegasi's ChallengeDon't Kill MeWho 2 TrustApologyImpending IssuesCredits (updated as necessary)Pegasi's ChallengeYoutube Video "Get out of my bucking way!" I shouted, just as I always did. "I'm trying to see this book shop." Their voices grated against my ears. "Shut up!" I screamed. "Enough with the goddamn chatter!" As if that would do any good. Nothing could possibly get these idiots' mouths to close for more than a fraction of a second. I sighed. 'Just... just go away,' I thought to myself. 'I have my own world, and it doesn't need you. All I need is myself and a book. I have my own values. Keep your own, you goddamn ponies. Just don't bombard me with them.' I sighed again. I knew I could never penetrate their thick skulls with my beliefs, even though they were the only sane thing left in this one-horse town. 'I don't get you other ponies. I don't understand. I don't now. I won't tomorrow. I won't ever.' A crowded street surrounded me. Ponies milled about everywhere, going about their business. All talking. All annoying pieces of trash tainting what could have been a perfect reading nook. All moving along their own lines, their own business in mind. And none of them paying even the least bit of attention to me. This seemed a bit strange to me, considering I was lying face-down in the middle of a crowded street. I slowly lifted my head. Yep, I thought. Everypony else was just letting me lie there, despite how out of place I knew I looked. The streets, the buildings around... I could remember none of them. In truth, I remembered nothing. How did I get here? I didn't know. Where was I? I had no idea. Why... why do I remember nothing? I thought to myself, before realizing that I wasn't going to get any answers and rose to my hooves. As I did, I glanced at my body, and saw a pouch strapped to my side. Opening it, I reached one hoof in, and pulled out a black pin that would typically go on a shirt. On the pin was the image of a black skull. I flipped the pin over in my hoof, and the voices around me suddenly increased tenfold. Oh my god! I thought to myself as I flipped the pin again, silencing the voices. What just happened? Can I do that again? Once again, I flipped the pin. Sure enough, the voices increased again. My mind felt like it was exploding under the extra sounds, but I was able to hold on for a few precious seconds before finally flipping the pin again. What... am I hearing others' thoughts? The moment such an idea entered my mind, I began to intently stare at the pin. "What is this thing? How does it do such an impossible act?" I mumbled out loud to myself. Just as I did, a beeping noise was heard from my right foreleg. I raised it up, to see that I somehow had a state-of-the-art wristphone on me. This... is the weirdest day ever. I pinned the pin to the outside of my pouch and checked the phone to see that a strange message had appeared on the text function. "'Reach Carousel Boutique. You have 60 minutes. Fail, and be Obliterated. The Pegasi.' Yeah, right," I mumbled to myself as I hit Delete. Just as I began to place my hoof back on the ground, I glanced at the screen and realized the message had not been deleted. "Hmm..." I stated. "Delete, delete, delete...it's the spam that won't bucking die!" No matter how much I pressed the button, the message would not go away. Whatever, I thought to myself. I put my hoof back down, noting that everypony had still paid no mind to me, even though I was yelling at my phone right in front of them. Just as my foreleg hit the ground, a sharp pain spread through my whole body, starting right on my hoof, and then vanished almost instantly. I checked my hoof, and there, in blood red symbols, was a timer. 60:00. And it was counting down, right from the time mentioned on the phone note. Looking up, I saw an even stranger sight. Bright red symbols, the same color as the timer but in insane, abstract shapes, began floating out in front of me. As I watched, bright green webbed legs shot out from one of them. Slowly, the legs began tugging at the rest of the symbol, pulling itself out until it was revealed to be a frog. Then, it jumped out of the symbol. Slowly, more and more frogs began pulling themselves out of each of the symbols. "What... what the-ow!" I shouted as one of the frogs hopped up to me and kicked me in the face. Its legs were large and muscle-clad to the point of being downright unnatural, and strange red lines were forming a simple pattern on its back. "It's attacking me!? Somepony, help me!" All the ponies around me kept walking, oblivious to my predicament. "Anypony! Stop ignoring me!" They just kept trotting. "Arg! There's only one thing I can do now." I charged. As far away from the frogs as I could possibly manage. "Ugh, Another week." "Enough whining! It's not like we've been working our flanks off lately. We've had time off!" "That's exactly why Ah'm upset. It's just a long, drawn out Monday, this week." "What, would you prefer not having to work at all? We need to get points, and this is our chance! Day 1, plenty of fresh pickings. We all know you need them, too." "Yeah, Ah know. Just one week, Ah'll live. Ah hope. Hey, how about this? Let's have a contest. A little game." "A game, eh?" "Yeah. It'll feel a bit less like work that way. Ya know what Ah mean?" "Of course I do. It wouldn't exactly be the first one we played, would it?" "Pegasus game 3. Player hunting. Whoever gets the most has to buy the other a hay burger. Ya in?" "Oh, come on! Why not pick something more interesting than that? It's so simple!" "Not interested, then?" "Oh, I'm interested. It's just that you'll be too ashamed of how easily you were beat to show your face for at least a few days." "It's on, Rainbow. It is on." "Okay," I said, gasping for breath. "They...better not...follow me...here...OH COME ON!" I screamed as more symbols floated ahead. As I watched, the symbols began spawning frogs and moving towards other ponies about three hundred feet away, who shrieked and ran in terror. The symbols caught up with those who were not fast enough. All the ponies shrieked one last time as their bodies flashed suddenly, then vanished. "What the hay is going on?" I shouted. Right as I did so, the frogs all turned towards me. I was doomed. I knew I was doomed. The frogs began to slowly hop their way to my location, but just as they closed the first ten feet, a voice sounded from my left. "Yes! I found somepony!" I turned towards the voice to see it belonged to a bright pink pony with a bubbly mane holding a stuffed purple dragon. She quickly dashed right in front of me, her short legs covering the distance in seconds. "You!" she shouted. "Form a bond with me! Please!" "Er..." I replied, eyeing the enclosing frogs. "I'm a little busy right now..." "Listen to me! If we bond, we can defeat the changelings!" "The what now?" "Do you want to be Obliterated by them? Bond with me or they'll get you!" "Umm... okay. Fine." Just as those words left my mouth, bright beams of light surrounded both of us, stopping the frogs' assault for a few precious seconds. "Where did all those lights come from?" I asked as the beams dissipated and the frogs began to approach again. Just then, I saw the briefest flash of pink and orange. I glanced towards it, but nothing was there. The pink pony ignored my question. "Take this!" she shouted instead as she shoved a pin towards me. "But-what just-" "Use the damn pin! Kill the Changelings!" "Uh...sure." "Get ready!" she shouted as the frogs finally reached their destination, at which point she vanished. I inspected the pin. It was a red pin with a fire emblem on it. Okay... so I 'use' this pin by... For lack of any better idea, I stared at the frogs-Changelings, as Pink called them- and imagined the fire on the pin burning them alive. One frog jumped at me, its feet inches away from my face. Just before it came into contact, bright red flames sprouted around it, causing it to fall and vanish. What... what the... I continued imagining the flames around the Changelings, watching as they one by one ignited and disappeared. As the final frog perished under the flames, Pink reappeared. "That fire..." I asked her. "Did I just create that fire?" "Wow," she replied. "You must be good at magic. Guess I found a good person to bond with!" "Magic? Is that what this is? Magic?" "Uh huh. And now that we've bonded, the Changelings can't start fighting us! I mean, we can still fight them if we want, but they can't begin it." "So, in other words, we're safe?" Pink nodded. "We're safe." "So, why did you just vanish?" "What? Don't you remember?" Pink then picked one forehoof off the ground and facehooved. "Oh, where are my manners?" She stuck her hoof out in greeting. "I'm Fluttershy." Fluttershy? Doesn't really fit a hyperactive pink... thing. "We've got a long week ahead of us, don't we?" she continued. "A week? A week of what?" "Well, the Pegasi's Challenges are a week long, isn't it?" The Pegasi's Challenges? What kind of idiot am I talking to? I vaguely heard Pink talking, but decided not to listen. Oh, whatever. Forget about Pink. Where the hay am I, and how'd I get there? I began looking around the area, not seeing much of interest until a sign caught my attention. The sign says I'm in Canterlot... how'd I end up in Canterlot? I looked around again, noting with interest the path I took to get there. Wait-of course. I'll just go back the way I came while running from the insane frog creatures. I began running back across the city, leaving Pink to go do whatever it was that she was doing. I heard her shouting "Wait for me!" but that only made me run faster. Somehow, though, she kept up easily, even when I got to the place I started in. "Hey! Why are you following me?" I snapped. "'Why are you making it so hard for me to keep up' is a better question." "Go back to whatever the hay you were busy with and leave me alone!" "Well, good luck with that! We're trapped here, don't you remember?" "Yeah, right. Keep listening to those stupid phone messages all you want, or stop being such a dumbflank and do something fun with your free time." "You're the one being the dumbflank, dumbflank. We're bonded. We can't separate, or the Changelings will Obliterate both of us and we won't win." "Win what?" "The challenges! Are you going to complete them, or be Obliterated?" "Complete the stupid challenges all you want. I'm going now." "You can't go! We're bonded." "Don't make me a part of whatever the hay you're up to." "You already are a part of it. You're a player too. Why else would you have a Player Pin?" Pink pointed towards the Skull Pin I had clipped on to my pouch. "And the timer. Don't you have a timer?" She lifted her hoof and compared it to mine. Sure enough, she had a timer too, and its time was identical to mine; 20:05, now. "What... what is going on today..." "See? I told you you were a part of it." Pink glanced at her timer again and freaked out. "Oh my god! We're running out of time! We have to go to Carousel Boutique, now!" She pointed towards a large building a few blocks away. "That's Carousel Boutique. Come on, let's go." I began to think to myself again. Yeah... right. As weird as this has been so far, I'm not listening to this crazy pony. I tried to get away from her, but Pink was able to keep up deftly.Ugh... the annoying little bitch won't go away! As I ran away from the building and onto another street, she began to freak out. "I told you, we're trapped!" I replied, "Of course we are," and walked into the street...straight into an invisible wall. "Ow! What the?" Pink jumped over to my side. "You listening to me yet?" Oh, god... you mean she's telling the truth? I did everything in my power to push the thoughts out of my head before they took over. "Okay, fine. I'll work with you." "Good! First of all, what's your name?" "My name? My name is Twilight. Twilight Sparkle." "Great name! Now let's go." I followed Pink through the crowded streets full of ponies who couldn't see me towards the supposed Carousel Boutique. Just before we got there, we crossed a street and ran headlong into another wall. "Damn it!" she shouted. "This is the only way there. We can't complete the mission now." I turned around, starting to go back, when I noticed a muscular white pony wearing armor staring right at me. What are you looking at? I wondered. As I returned his stare, I could see his lips move very slightly. I read his lips, and they appeared to say, "Bond confirmed. Wall clear." "Great, now what?" asked Pink. She walked back up to the wall, lifted her hoof to touch it-and fell right through. "Ow! Hey, Twilight! The wall's gone." "Hmm. Weird." I turned around again to look at the armored pony, but he had mysteriously vanished. I shrugged and followed her through the wall and right in front of Carousel Boutique. I lifted my hoof to watch the timer. It counted down from 5 minutes now, but then vanished off my hoof. "And we're done!" Pink exclaimed. "Challenge complete." "Big deal!" a voice exclaimed from the around the side of the Boutique. "Only dumbflanks fail the first challenge!" "It's a Pegasus!" shouted Pink. "Come on, then! Help me earn some points and be Obliterated, please!" continued the voice. A platoon of frog Changelings hopped around the Boutique towards us. "They were summoned by a Pegasus to attack us just now," explained Pink. "That means they can initiate battle. Come on then. Let's obliterate these Changelings!" "Okay then," I replied as I readied the fire pin. "Wait!" shouted Pink. "While we fight, try and send your power to me as well!" "I don't know what you mean, but I'll try." Pink vanished again, and I once again imagined flames shooting out towards the frogs. The first frogs perished without incident, some of them not even requiring me to attack them, but more and more just kept coming. Before long, they were closing in on me, and I was forced to start jumping out of the way of their legs in between bouts of flame. After five minutes, I was completely out of breath. Then came the big one. A massive Changeling, twice my size, in the shape of a bear. Its arms were made of tattoos, but its claws were just as deadly as any normal creature's. It slashed at me. I rolled out of the way and began my fire assault, but the bear didn't even look fazed. The fire surrounded it still, flames licking at its fur, and then... the flames stopped. I glanced at the pin to see it had gone completely gray, with a slightly discolored version of the original emblem slowly reappearing. I then realized what was happening. The pin needs to recharge. The bear swiped at me with its claws again, this time scratching my flank as I attempted to dodge it. I'm dead. What can I do now? Perhaps I can- Pink! I remembered what Pink said to me just before the fight: try to send your power to me as well. I began to focus intensely. As I did so, an image of Pink running towards the Changeling appeared in my mind. I concentrated on sending my power to her. As I did, I could feel a small amount of my strength being leeched by her. Pink charged toward the bear, prepared a strike, and... bashed it over the head with her stuffed dragon. The bear recoiled in both the image of Pink and in real life. Surprisingly effective, that dragon, I thought. A new message appeared then. Pin recharged. I prepared the flame again, but as I did so, I became filled with renewed energy. Glancing at Pink's image, I saw her focusing as well, sending her power to me. This time, the flames visibly harmed the bear, singing his fur and causing it to recoil even further. As the flames struck, I saw the faintest glow fly off of me. In the image, I saw the same glow land directly on Pink. Does the one with the glow hurt the Changelings more? I thought to myself. I think so, came a voice in my head that sounded like Pink. We were able to set up a pattern then, with me flaming the bear while she sent me power, whereupon I'd send her power while she bashed them over the head with the dragon. When the pin ran out of charge, she could carry the fight until it came back. Finally, after almost ten minutes of battle, the bear went down to one knee and vanished-was Obliterated, I corrected myself. Better get a hang of the lingo here. "And done!" shouted Pink as the final frog vanished. "Man, that was tough. "You're right. It sure was." "But... that Pegasus wasn't kidding. The missions will get harder. What will we do?" How should I know? How did I even end up in this game? Those were the last thoughts that passed through my head before everything went black. Don't Kill MeYoutube Video Why am I in this game? What did I do? How come-wait, what? I thought to myself as soon as I realized I was no longer standing outside Carousel Boutique. Where the hay are we? The location was dark and deserted. Cracked stones served as pavement, black bricks as walls. A few randomly strewn pieces of trash blew about in a slight breeze that appeared to come from a solid wall. As I glanced around, I saw Pink holding a small scrap of paper, her gaze adamantly focused on it. "Oh," she sighed. "I hope I can do this. I have to do this." "Hey, Pink," I called to her. Pink jumped and nearly fell over. "Hey! Don't go around scaring people like that!" Baby. You need to try and stop acting like a foal. "Are you alright, Twilight?" I then realized I had been standing there, unmoving, for about five seconds after she shouted at me. "Yeah. Do you know where we are?" Pink looked around for a second. "It looks like Canterlot Station. This is probably the abandoned warehouse part of it." "And... how did we get here?" "Maybe we fell asleep and woke up here." "What? So you're saying that after we defeated the bear Changeling, we fell asleep, in the middle of the day, standing up. Then we just randomly appeared here, still standing up and apparently awake. That's your explanation?" Pink shrugged. "Got a better idea?" she asked before ringing started to resound around the building. I checked my phone for the mission. "Lift the statue's curse. You have 60 minutes. Fail, and be obliterated. The Pegasi." The sharp pain quickly arrived and receded on my hoof once again. "There's the timer. Why do we have timers?" "For the challenge. Were you listening at all to the briefing?" Briefing? "We need to do what the Pegasi tell us before the timer hits zero, or we're obliterated. Come on, the exit's this way!" Pink and I started trotting through the downright enormous warehouse. It easily took five minutes to get to the end, during which I was given some time to gather my thoughts. All of this sounds like some old mares' tale. But then again, after yesterday, anything's possible after meeting that Pegasus yesterday. Heh. Pegasi existing. Sooner or later I'll find out that Unicorns exist too. A few minutes later, I glanced down at my wristphone, and a piece of information on it caught my attention. "Hey, it says it's a day after the last mission!" "Yeah," was Pink's reply. "A day went by while we were sleeping or whatever." Right, right, right, I thought to myself. "So, the sculpture this challenge is referring to... I think it's Winona. How about you?" I remained quiet. She didn't repeat the question. I hoped she finally got the message. Okay, there's the way out at last. Come on, Pink, let's just go. Let's-"Ah!" Right at the exit to the warehouse, there was once again an invisible wall. "Another one?" asked Pink. I nodded. "Oh, no..." Pink looked ready to cry. "What are we gonna do? We're going to fail the mission..." Is that all you can do? Complain, complain, complain. You're never helpful beyond telling me what's what. "There's no other way out. We're trapped. We're going to be obliterated." Color began to drain from Pink's body as she continued talking, and her poofy mane started to lose its form in favor of a straighter shape. "We can find a way through. Look around!" I shouted. The less time I have to spend with this idiot, the better, I subliminally added. "We got through it yesterday, we can get through it today." "Got any ideas?" she asked, her color instantly returning and her mane puffing up again. I said nothing. We had to look for the trick, not chitchat, and I figured setting an example would be the best course of action. "Well?" I said nothing. "Well?" I said nothing. "Hello?" "Aha!" I shouted. "I think I found the trick." "You did? What is it?" I raised my hoof in the direction of a small corner near the invisible wall. In the corner, there stood a guard. He looked just like the pony that stood by the wall yesterday. "It's him. He's the key." I held up the black skull pin. "Well then. Let's see what he's thinking." I flipped the pin, and as I caught it, I saw a slight wave of energy that signaled the mind-read. The wave drew closer and closer to the guard, before... breaking apart. I saw the wave move around him and reform behind him, as if he had some form of protection against the mind-read. "What?" I flipped the pin over and over, each time seeing the same thing. "I can't... I can't scan him." "What?" screamed Pink. "Then we can't get through! He's the- hey, what are you doing?" "Hello, sir," I spoke to the pony after quickly trotting right in front of him. He stood there, unblinking, as if he couldn't see me. "I know you are part of this whole wall thing. Now take the wall down, or else." "Want past this wall?" he asked without skipping a beat. "What the hell do you think we want? A bucking ice cream?" "Defeat the changelings in this area. Then I will bring the wall down." "Oh, of course!" Pink facehooved. "Why didn't I think of that? Just ask the Pegasus. Duh!" Something about the way she said duh really got on my nerves. I ignored it. "Well then, let's begin." "Wait, Twilight. I gave you the fire pin because it wouldn't work for me. Not every psyche works for every pony," she added as I quizzically glanced at her about the fire pin. "But you should have more than just that and the Player Pin. What else do you have in your pack?" My hoof leafed through my saddle bag. "Hey, you're right." In my bag there was a small collection of pins; one with a blue blast on it, one of a claw, one of a lightning bolt, and a gray swipe. "Let's try these out." "You might not be able to use all of them, but if you can use one, then they send a message to you about how they work. One other thing. You have two Player Pins?" I looked at my collection. "Yeah, I guess so." "Okay, whatever. It doesn't matter. Let's get rid of these changeli... where are they?" "Hmm... I think I know how to find them." I took one of my two Player Pins and flipped it. The wave expanded across the warehouse, missing the Pegasus but showing me a few very important symbols. "Come on, then. You, you, and you." I pointed at the Changeling symbols and watched as each of them began to barrel towards in the exact order I called them in. "I may not share my power with you this fight, Pink. I want to use it to try out these pins." Pink nodded, just before the symbols enclosed in on us and she vanished. As the frogs appeared, I raised my hoof in the air towards them. A barrage of the blue blasts flew forth in a spectacular display. Any frogs caught in it were hit over and over by the bullets, vanishing soon after. Yes, yes! Ha ha, this is amazing! I then took a look at the claw pin. I focused on a stray traffic cone that was in the corner of the warehouse. My eyes widened as it defied gravity and raised itself in the air. Go right, I thought to myself as the cone went right. The cone responded to my every command, even going so far as to hit the frogs hard enough to Obliterate them. The lightning pin was simple enough. I look at a Changeling, focus a bit, and they get hit by lightning. One frog closed in on me, near enough to touch me with his feet. I pulled out the final pin, and swiped at the frog with my hoof, claw pin equipped. A gray slash appeared in the air, and the frog flew backwards. Ha ha, yes! As the final Changeling vanished and Pink reappeared, the Pegasus trotted towards us. "Complete. Wall clear." The invisible wall glowed white for a second. As I placed my hoof where it was, I felt nothing and could pass through. I looked around at the world in front of me. Nothing had changed, but the fact that there were so many who had never heard of ponies with wings, or using magic from pins or anything else, seemed strange to me, even when I had never heard of them before. At least, I didn't think I had. When you can't remember anything, you just never know. "Those pins were great, Pink. The Changelings didn't stand a chance against all of those." "Wait," she replied. "You mean you were able to use every single one?" I nodded. "Wow! I'm only able to use a few myself. So, why do you always vanish while we're fighting?" "Me? You're the one who vanishes." "The Changelings exist in two seperate planes," called the voice of the Pegasus. "And the only way to defeat them is to purge them from both." "Ooookaaaaay..." I replied. "Whatever. Come on, Pink, let's go." We ran. We ran like hell towards Winona. I just had one question remaining. "What's Winona?" "WHAAAAAT!" Pink nearly tripped over her own hooves. "How can you live anywhere near Canterlot and never hear of Winona?" "Can you just tell me what the hay it is?" "Winona is a sacred dog statue in the center of Canterlot. Every year there's a celebration about her. In it, you have to touch Winona in the right spot"-insert sex joke here, I thought to myself-"and you'll have good luck until the next one. Touch the wrong spot, though, and you'll"-she paused for dramatic effect-"be cursed for a year!" How long until this idiot pony grows the hell up and decides to stop believing in these goddamn wivestales? What, did her parents drop her on her head when she was a baby or something? It's the only explanation I can- "Hey! Stop right there!" "Oh, for the love of-" I turned around to be met by a gray mare with a white mane and a white tail with red streaks running through it, and she looked extremely angry about something. Trailing behind her was a pink filly, a slightly lighter shade than Pink was, with a pure white mane and tail. "What do you want?" I asked, attempting to sound as annoyed as I could. I guess it worked. "What I want is you two Pegasi dead," shouted the mare. My eyes widened briefly. "We're not Pegasi," Pink explained. "We're Players, just like-" "Don't give me any of that goddamn horsecrap!" shouted the gray mare. "You bastard pegasi are not leaving this street alive! You hear me?" There was a fire in her eyes, an anger the likes of which I had never seen before. "Prepare yourselves, dumbflanks!" "Cheshire, stop!" The filly finally found her voice, apparently. "They're telling the truth. They're Players too!" "Don't listen to them, Lovehearth. I can't scan them. They have to be Pegasi!" "But you couldn't scan me either! Maybe it doesn't work on Players or Pegasi. And look. They have Player Pins too, see?" Lovehearth pointed out the Black Skull pins that Pink and I had been carrying. Cheshire stopped dead in her tracks. "...Oh. Ha, ha, sorry." She turned back to us. "It was... just a misunderstanding, right? We can forget that happened, right?" No. "Of course! We'd probably do the same in your position." The world according to Pink. Go on a homicidal rampage? I shrugged. I dunno, maybe I would. "It's just that we were attacked by a Pegasus yesterday. Crazy mane, all the colors of the rainbow. She came in, threw some powerful noise our way, and then left." Cheshire looked down. "We barely made it out alive. We wanted"-Cheshire stopped, noting that Lovehearth was staring at her with a strange look on her face- "Okay, I wanted to go get some revenge before we went to Winona." "We were attacked yesterday too," continued Pink. "Maybe it was the same person?" "Maybe," Lovehearth finally spoke up. "What do you think?" she asked me. I said nothing. "Hello?" I said nothing. "Do you ever talk?" asked the goddamn annoying filly. "Sometimes," answered Pink. "She's just being Twilight. She has a hard time talking to new ponies." And old ponies. And basically all ponies. "So, your mission," Lovehearth asked enthusiastically. "It was to remove the statue's curse too, right?" "Yeah! You got the Carousel Boutique mission too yesterday, then?" "We did, but... it was wierd. We never got there, but our timers vanished anyway." "We got lucky," added Cheshire. "But we're not pushing our luck again. We're doing this one." "Hey! I just got an idea!" shouted Lovehearth. She seemed quite excitable. "Why don't we team up? We can get this done in no time!" Pink almost squealed in delight. "That's a-" "No." Everypony turned to look at me. "You idiots will just slow me down. I'd rather team up with a giant rock I had to carry everywhere. Come along, you'll get us all Obliterated. Alone, half of us are still doomed, but at least the rest stand a chance. Here's a hint; the half of us does not include you. Now get out of my goddamn sight." There was a good few seconds of dead silence. "Well then," Cheshire finally spoke up. "I guess we're not teaming up with you. Good luck." She spoke the last two words with heavy contempt. The two ponies trotted off, Cheshire not bothering to look back, but Lovehearth stealing one final look before following her partner. Pink turned to face me. "What. The. Hell are you thinking!?" "I look out for myself. I team up with whoever is strong. And believe me, I'm already carrying enough dead weight in this group." Pink said nothing, but her eyes spoke worlds. Why? is what they seemed to say. Why are you so cruel? I didn't reply. "Well then, this is Winona?" "This is Winona." Pink acted as though she had recovered. I knew she hadn't. "So, let's see what's up." I looked around. We were standing in a central courtyard. Ponies milled about their daily lives, knowing nothing about the insane challenges that we were forced to complete. Small buildings dotted the perimeter of the area, but for the most part, it was clear. The only obstacle was a small statue of a Border Collie, her tongue out to enjoy the breeze. "I don't know," Pink mumbled to herself. "It looks a bit... off somehow. How about we scan it?" I flipped the pin. "No Changelings. No weird symbols. One guy saying something about polishing-hmm, polishing?" "Yeah. Let's do that. It looks like it needs one anyway." The two of us began frantically rubbing the statue, grimacing as the grime and dirt covered us. If we were visible, we'd look like idiots. "You know, the more we do this, the less it looks like Winona." Pink shrugged. "Wait, what are these?" She pointed towards some blue markings across Winona's body. "Some vandal with a marker." We continued polishing. Grr. "What was that you said, Twilight?" "I didn't say anything." Grr. "You sure?" "Yes." GRR. We both stepped back from Winona. Pink was the first to speak. "That... wasn't the statue, right?" "I think... it was." The statue's marks glowed, and a symbol floated out of it. "Well, there's the curse. Come on, then, let's get them." The symbols this time spawned two wolves, their white fur in stark contrast to the blue marks that traced around their body. One leapt at me, only to be knocked back by a barrage of blue blasts. Somehow, the beast got to its feet again and snarled at me. I saw Pink in my mind's eye, frantically dodging and countering with her stuffed dragon. I sent power to her and watched as her dragon bashed a Wolf right on the snout. The beast recoiled, collapsed, and vanished, but just before it did so, I saw something. It almost smiled at me, as if it knew something I didn't. Oh, wait. Weren't there two of these- A barrage of sharp claws tore at my back, forcing me to the ground. The wolf leapt on top of me, drool escaping its mouth and dripping down onto my chest. Its eyes seemed to pierce right through me. I imagined fire burning away the wolf's tail, but it wasn't even fazed. Lightning struck it. It wasn't even fazed. I slashed at it with my hoof. It blinked. Damn it. Pink, hurry up, I'm going to die here. Wait. Well... shit. I thought about what I had done earlier that day. Calling her dead weight, chasing off Cheshire and Lovehearth... why the buck would she even bother saving me? I know I wouldn't have. I closed my eyes and waited for the monster to finish me. "Hey. Hey, Twilight! Twilight! Why are you still lying there?" I opened my eyes slowly to find that I was lying down in front of Winona, Pink staring down at me. Well. I look like a dumbflank, don't I? "Why... why did you save me?" "Because we're bonded! That's what we do. We save each other." This... this pony... saved me after what I did? "And the timers?" "Gone! See?" Pink raised her hoof to show me it was blank. "We cut it close though, Twilight. Only a few seconds left." "Really? Guess we'll have to step it up tomor"- "Well well well, if it isn't the bond that deprived me of my points yesterday!" The voice rang out among the center, not deafening but certainly loud. "It's that Pegasus again." I turned to see a blue winged pony with a mane composed entirely of rainbows. "Hey! You're the one who attacked Cheshire and Lovehearth, aren't you?" "You mean the gray mare with all bark and no bite who had that annoying-ass filly following her around?" the mare asked smugly. Damn. I like this girl already. "Those are them. Now, I'm really not in the mood for this. I kind of just want to get the Challenges done, so if you leave us the buck alone, then we might not have to kick your ass." "Ooh, a challlenge is it?" The rainbow mare smiled, then frowned. "Wait- We're not allowed to attack Players directly. Damn it. But," she added, the smile returning to her face, "there is something I can do, and believe me, it will help you, Twi." Twi? The hell? Okay, so maybe she heard Pink say my name and then shortened it a bit, but... Twi? I'm never going to live this down. "What is it you want?" "I'm offering a bonus Challenge. Complete it, and I'll let you go five days early." My ears perked at the sound of a quick exit. "Tell me. Tell me now." Rainbow Mane pointed to Pink. "All you have to do is Obliterate your hyperactive friend over there." "What?" I cried. "No, you idiot! She's not my friend!" "Your time limit is one minute. You in?" "I'm in." "What?" Pink looked horrified. "Twilight, you can't be serious! You wouldn't do this." "Oh yeah, I forgot. Fail, and you're Obliterated instead. 45 seconds!" "You hear that? Now I have no choice." "Twilight. I saved your life. Repay it for me. She won't Obliterate you. She doesn't have the right to do more than throw some Changelings our way." "35! Oh, here's a little note for ya, Twi. Your friend here? She's spying for us." "What!" screamed Pink. "You can't possibly"- "Your wristphone. You kept looking at it over and over." Pink fell silent. "25!" I took the claw pin. I focused. I grabbed Pink by the neck with it, lifted her into the air, began to squeeze the air out of her. "Are you even going to fight back?" Pink began to cry. "No," she gasped out. "You're my partner. I won't fight-ack! you... even if you do kill me... I won't...stop...you..." "10! You're nearly done with her, I see." Rainbow mane was right. She was so close to death I could see the life draining from her eyes. I squeezed even harder, waiting for Pink's breathing to cease. Who 2 TrustYoutube Video ...What have I done? I looked around. It was dark. I had no clue where I was. What have I done? Rainbow Mane manipulated me, she... I started feeling my way around the dark room, hoping to find some kind of light. Please, Pink... forgive me. I was being... I don't even want to think about it... "Forgive me, Pink..." I said out loud. "It's okay, Twilight. I forgive you." Pink stepped out of the shadow, the eternal smile she always wore plastered on her face. "It wasn't your fault. It was that damn Pegasus. She controlled you, you know that." "Yes, yes, I know. Now, let's just get out of here." And thank God for you, Incognito. You saved us both. That's right, Twi! Keep at it! She's dead! 5 seconds left! 4, 3, 2- Stop that! Put her down, Purple! Who the hell are you? One mission per day. Only the Wonderbolt captain can issue the Challenges. And you can't make them Obliterate another member. You know the rules. Now follow them. What! I-I didn't know that- It's okay, Twilight. You don't know these rules. And how do you know them? You're a Player, just like these two dumbflanks. According to who? Now go. Thank you for helpi- Hey! You are still part of this. You let your guard down, listened to whoever, did anything you could to get out of this... you nearly killed your Partner, and it would have ended with the Obliteration of both of you. Now go apologize to her. ...Pink... I'm sorry. It's not your fault. Who are you, anyway? And how do you know so much about this? Name's Incognito. I watch over the Challenges, making sure the rules aren't broken. We have some time before another day passes. I can answer any questions you have; just make it quick. Perhaps... perhaps I should be more careful. I may not like Pink, but getting her killed is the last thing I need. Hopefully, we can just finish the rest of the challenges quickly, and get out of- "Oof!" Pink tripped over something, and toppled to the floor. As she tried to get up, her wristphone's screen began to glow, and my eye was instantly attracted to it. The picture on it was of Pink standing next to a yellow-ish mare with a pink mane. They were both smiling. They both looked happy. "Is that what you were looking at before when you were playing with your wristphone?" When I thought you were spying on me. "You-you looked at it!?" Pink glared at me as all four of her hooves once again touched the ground. "The picture was on it. The screen was facing toward me. What was I supposed to do, blind myself?" "...Yes, it's what I was looking at. It's a selfie me and my friend, Pinkie Pie, took." "I see." What I don't see is who decided to call the bombastic pink thing Fluttershy and the cute yellow one Pinkie Pie. "Well, anyway, come on. Let's get out of-" A ringing noise emanated from our Wristphones, followed by the now-expected pain from my forehoof. "Mission's here. Let's see what it is." Pink glanced at her wristphone again. "Defeat the monster at the Canterlot Concerta. You have 180 minutes. Fail, and be Obliterated." She looked up again. "I know where it is. Come on, let's go out into the city, and I'll find it." We slowly worked our way around the darkness, constantly tripping over each other and either apologizing or yelling at each other. When we finally got out, we only had 170 minutes to go. I looked up at the front of the building we had just exited. The title was prim and made me think of outfits with enough laces to choke a rhino: The Canterlot Concerta. "Um, Pink? We're here." "Huh? Really?" Pink followed my gaze. "Huh. Guess we are. Well, we can't take out any monsters right now. At least not until we light the place up." "Lighting the place up? You need something in the Concerta?" Pink and I turned toward the voice to see a red mare with two saddlebags draped over her torso.. Her crimson mane with a yellow streak through the middle brought to mind a bright fire. "Yeah, we do. Can you help us?" "Perhaps." The mare extended her hoof in greeting. "The name's Blaze Ember. How're you doing?" I hesitated to take her hoof. Something seemed off, but I couldn't figure out what. Pink, meanwhile, instantly went up and shook hooves with her. "You're not THE Blaze Ember, are you? Lead singer of the Fire Spirits?" Blaze smiled. "The one and only." To say Pink had some form of mental orgasm would be an understatement. "Oh my god! It's you!" Pink squealed in delight, ears be damned. "What are you doing here?" "Well, I was SUPPOSED to be doing a rehearsal with the Spirits in preparation for our concert about two weeks from now, but as long as the lights are shot, we can't do anything. We sent our tech out to get what we need to fix it an hour ago, and he's still not back." Ember smiled. "Hey, how about this. You find the tech and send him back here with the part, and I'll let you through. Deal?" No. We have to- "Deal!" Damn it, Pink! "Sweet! He went that way." Blaze pointed down the street towards a busy block of buildings. "Be sure to hurry, though. I've only got..." She looked at her own wristphone, and then back at us. "165 minutes left. Then, I have to go to some dumb meeting about what we wear on stage. Product placement, or something like that." "Okay! See you later, Blaze!" "C'mon, Pink. We don't have any spare time to screw around. Let's just get this guy as quickly as possible, beat whatever monster is in there, and be done with this stupid challe-damn, it's a wall." I trotted up to the guard whose presence meant some annoying task we had to accomplish and glared at him. "We need to get through here. What do we have to do?" He looked back, stonefaced as ever. "Want past this wall? I'm going to summon some Changelings. Obliterate them." "Ready, Pink?" My partner nodded. "Go ahead, then." "Okay, but you asked for it." The Changeling Symbols floated around him, and what came out of them was enough to make me quake in fear. Not one Bear Changeling, but two. Pink vanished, and the fight began. It didn't take long for things to start heading south. The two of us could handle one bear without much issue, even with just one pin. But two seemed chaotic. The street became a frenzy, dodging and dodging and dodging, with chances to retaliate uncommon at best. I was tired, and so was Pink, even with our shared energy. Before even one fell, it was clear we weren't going to make it if we just kept this up. Wait! I have an idea! Pink's voice sounded throughout my head. The pin! That special one Incognito gave us! I'll tell you what you want to know. Do you have any questions? How do The Challenges work, exactly? Only the Game Master can choose the challenges for a given week. Your job is to clear them. The Master's is to stop you. And, unless you're powerful, he will. Thankfully for you, only one group of Players has to clear a challenge for everyone. So, we don't have to do the Challenges ourselves? We can just screw around and do whatever? I wouldn't recommend it. If everyone does that, then everyone gets Obliterated. Not to mention, by day 4 or 5, there's usually only one group still alive, and if that group is you, then only you can complete a Challenge. And, one more thing. Why are you whispering all of a sudden? This is very rare information I'm about to tell you. Most Pegasi don't even know this, and if the WBs find out, they'll start wondering what I'm doing. You get graded. What do you mean? Not everyone who makes it through can go back. Depending on who the GM is, he may let everyone who survives through, the stronger member of all the surviving teams, or only one person if he really wants to. You can't be serious! The GMs have their reasons. You'll find out, if you two make it to the end. Now, I'm sorry, but I have business to attend to. Thanks for your help though. One last thing. Take this with you. A blank pin? The Fusion Pin. It's the strongest pin you can use in the Challenges, but also one of the hardest to get to work. It can be used only once every ninety minutes, and only if you have complete sync with your partner. Wait. Wait! Wow, he just vanished. Who was Incognito, do you think? I don't know. But I can tell he has some ulterior motive to helping us. And whatever that motive is, it's completely insane. How do we use it, though? "How should I know?" I began to send energy to Pink, as she was slowing considerably in my mind's eye. As the energy traveled along the path between us, it struck something. Yet more energy, sent from her to me. Power seemed to flow through my body, making me feel like I could take on even the strongest of beasts. Glancing downwards while deciding which pin I should start with, I saw the Fusion Pin was no longer blank, and instead had the image of two intertwining five-pointed stars. One was purple, the color of my coat, and the other was a shade of pink eerily similar to my partner's. I grabbed the pin, closed my eyes, and concentrated intensely. When I opened them again, I was standing back-to-back with Pink, the bears on either side of us. I looked down, and saw that my forehooves were glowing with energy. Jumping up to my hind legs, I fired a bolt of energy out of each of them. This will be fun. Yes. Luck is on my side. With someone like that... this'll be easy. "God, how far down this way did he go?" "Come on, look on the bright side! Just ten minutes ago, we found out how to use the most amazing pin in the Challenges! No Changeling will be able to stand up to us now!" "Hello! How are you doing?" a familiar voice chimed. "I thought we agreed not to talk with them anymore, Lovehearth," echoed another. "Oh. It's you two," I mumbled under my breath. "Hi!" shouted Pink. "We're really sorry about yesterday." We are? "It's okay," Lovehearth hurriedly stated. "We're all under stress right now. So, what do you think about today's Challenge?" Pink was quick to answer. "We were at the Concerta, but it's pitch black in there. We couldn't see a thing, so now we're helping Flame Ember fix the lights." "Well, you're doing better than us," admitted Cheshire. "We found out about an interesting new trick we can use, but that's about it." "Really? What is it?" "It's called imprinting," Lovehearth informed us. "You look at someone who's trying to make a decision, and by concentrating hard enough, you can basically throw a possible solution into their heads for them to use. You should try it." "Okay! We'll have to try that sometime. So, how did the rest of yesterday g-" "Come on, Pink. We only have so much time." "Ugh, fine. Bye, you two!" After everyone except me shared a quick wave, we continued on our way. "Okay, here's the place that sells machine parts," I noted. "I'll do a quick scan around to see if I can find him." I flipped the pin and looked around for someone who was thinking about technology. A few seconds later, I turned the scan off. "Oh god." "So, he's possessed by the Changelings." "Yup." "And they're making him want to be the singer instead of the tech, so he's really depressed." "Yup." "So he's just moping around in front of the place until the Changelings around him are all Obliterated." "Yup." "And the Obliteration job is up to us." "Yup." "Ugh. Come on, let's get rid of them." As we got into our battle positions and summoned the Changelings to us, I heaved a sigh of annoyance. This is going to be a really irritating Challenge. I can just tell. The Changelings popped out of their symbols as usual, revealing themselves to be two of the frogs from Day 1 led by one of the wolves. Of course, since things never can be simple, they had a bunch of tadpoles the size of my hoof backing them up. As soon as the battle began, the tadpoles all leapt on my body, weighing me down to the point where I could barely move. Thankfully, I was able to tear one off and bash the wolf with it just before it attacked. I honed in on one of the frogs and used my beam pin. It wasn't nearly as powerful as the beams fired with Fusion, but that had yet to recharge, so this was the best I could use. The frog flew backwards, hitting the other frog and erasing one of them. Half the tadpoles immediately fell off and died. Thank God for Hive Minds. They make things so much easier. I let flames lick the other frog's body as it attempted to get up, while sending energy to Pink so she could keep the wolf too focused on her dimension to bother with mine. Before long, the other frog and the wolf were defeated, leaving the tech to shout loud enough to attract the attention of everyone in the immediate area. "What am I doing here? The Spirits need my help! I have to go work with them!" "All right. Now, let's go back and defeat the monster!" "You got the part, right?" Blaze asked the tech once we were back at the Concerta. "Umm," the tech mumbled. "...No." "God damn it! Go back and get what you need!" God damn it is right. "Come on, Pink. We should probably follow him." "Yeah. Make sure he doesn't get into trouble." "Okay, I'm here... wait, why did I come here, anyway? I'd go back and ask Blaze Ember, but she'd probably murder me. I'm sure the owner of the Concerta would know, but to ask him, I'd have to go through Blaze. This sucks." "God damn it! Now we have to go all the way back, find out what they need, then come back here, imprint it on him, and then go all the way back to defeat the monster. I knew this would be an annoying one." As we crept into the Concerta, I flipped my Player Pin to see if I could hear the owner's thoughts. God, how long does it take to get a bucking fuse, anyway? "Fuse. Got it," I whispered. -- Damn, why am I here again? I can't remember for the life of m- the fuse, yes! That's what I need! "Okay, Pink. As long as he doesn't forget between now and buying it, we're good." "Okay, Blaze. We just went all the way out there to find him, then all the way back here to find out he didn't have what he needed, all the way to the store with him, all the way here again to find out what we needed, all the way back there to tell him, then back here again. For the love of all that is good and holy, tell us the lights are working." "Don't you worry. The lights are on now. Go in and do what you need. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we can practice today after all, but I hear the meeting is handing out free kickass stuff, so I can at least look forward to that." "Thanks," Pink hurriedly replied as we walked in. "One last thing, you two. The others? They'll help you immensely. Don't leave them like you did before." "What do you think she's talking about, Twilight?" "Not important. You see the monster?" I asked as I looked around. "Looks like a big empty room to me." "Umm... I see it, all right," Pink whispered. She was looking straight up. I shot my gaze up with her, and nearly tripped over myself in surprise. A bat. A giant, yellow-bodied, purple-winged bat Changeling. Great. Just great. Pink vanished to her own dimension, and the lights went out. I couldn't see a thing, but I could hear the bat's swooshes and shrieks. Glancing at Pink's dimension, I saw that it was surprisingly different, with the lights still on and a variety of smaller bats sucking electricity from some overhead wires. Since I was clearly not going to be able to Obliterate anything in this dark, I concentrated on keeping away from the bat's calls and focusing energy towards Pink, who was easily using her stuffed dragon and dispatching bat after bat after bat, as the lights slowly came back on thanks to the lack of any power-sucking Changelings. Several minutes later, when the room was light enough to see, I fired my beams at the bat. They all connected, but the beast barely seemed to notice. I tried slashing it and striking it with lightning, but it couldn't have cared less and continued swooshing down at me in an attempt to strike me with its claws. Light! It's weak to light! Pink's voice sounded. That's why it put out the power. Hmm, I thought back. Well, I have slashes, telekinesis...I've got it! As Pink continued to Obliterate Changelings on her end, I lit up my fire pin. "Take this, you freak." The fire scorched the bat horribly, and it immediately glared at me with its horrid crimson eyes. Large green blasts suddenly started shooting out of its wings, and I had no more time to attack as I dodged bolt after bolt after bolt. Come on, come on... there! That's the last bat! Power fully functioning! It was clear that Pink was right about her light theory, as the Monster dropped to the ground and covered its head with its wings. Free of any distracting laser blasts, I pulled out the Fusion Pin and sent energy to Pink. "God, that was a tough Challen-oh crap." "What is it?" "That wasn't the Monster. Our timers are still going, and we only have 20 seconds left." "No..." "That's it. We failed. We're do-" "Stop thinking like that! Here's the Monster!" Cheshire and Lovehearth dashed through the entrance and focused their gaze on a small and cute-looking golden bat. Cheshire leaped up and smashed her hoof down on it, causing it to disintegrate. The pain in my forehoof that meant the timer had either appeared or disappeared was proof enough that we were safe. "Thanks, you two!" shouted Pink. "Without you, we'd be gone." "Same here," replied Lovehearth. "That little bat was the heart of the big one. Without your help, we'd be gone." "Wow, really? Blaze Ember just told us that 'our friends' would help us a lot. Maybe she was talking about you. But how would she know?" Pink tapped her hoof on the ground. "Wait... how did she talk to us in the first place?" "She's a Pegasus," I interjected. "You didn't guess?" Pink stared at me. "...No, I didn't." "Her saddlebags were covering her wings, and the meeting she had to go to was right when our Challenge ended. Not to mention, she could talk to us. Can't think of another idea." "But why would she help us, then?" Lovehearth raised her hoof and began to speak. "The Pegasi may be our enemies, but they're still ponies, and all ponies are capable of being nice and helping someone out. Surely, a Pegasus can still be nice to us." I don't want to break your foalish fantasies, but there must have been an ulterior motive here. "Well," Pink wondered, if it weren't for you, we'd be Obliterated, and if it weren't for us, you'd be Obliterated. How about we give teamwork another shot?" She placed her hoof in front of her. "I'll do it!" Lovehearth cried, as she placed her hoof on top of Pink's. "As long as we don't get any more outbursts like before, I'll do it," Cheshire gruffly noted, placing her hoof in as well. Well... without them, I really would be dead right now. I guess if it helps me get through the week, I should do it. "So long as you don't slow us down," I compromised. "Twilight, you have to put your hoof in with us. It doesn't work otherwise." Ugh. ApologyIt's been forever since the last chapter, and likely to be a while longer. Sorry. I find that if I try to write when I'm not motivated, it comes out feeling really forced, and my work is not very good. Combine that with the fact that my initial obsession with TWEWY is slowly cooling, and writing this story is becoming a challenge. Not to say it's abandoned; when I start a story, I intend to finish it. But, don't expect anything to come for a while, possibly more than a year. SLTheThird Impending IssuesHeh... seem to have run into some problems with the story. Some of the forums which contained information on Blaze Ember, one of the OCs I was using, have been deleted. I needed that info to continue writing. And, for some unknown reason, I cannot find Blaze's page. I'll work off of memory if need be, but if Blaze can please resend me the info, it would be greatly appreciated. Credits (updated as necessary)CAST Twilight Sparkle: Neku Sakuraba. Official character. Fluttershy: Shiki Misaki. Official character. Rainbow Dash: Uzuki Yahiro. Official Character. Cheshire: Beat. Created by Vadram. Lovehearth: Rhyme. Created by Vadram.
Pegasi's ChallengeYoutube Video "Get out of my bucking way!" I shouted, just as I always did. "I'm trying to see this book shop." Their voices grated against my ears. "Shut up!" I screamed. "Enough with the goddamn chatter!" As if that would do any good. Nothing could possibly get these idiots' mouths to close for more than a fraction of a second. I sighed. 'Just... just go away,' I thought to myself. 'I have my own world, and it doesn't need you. All I need is myself and a book. I have my own values. Keep your own, you goddamn ponies. Just don't bombard me with them.' I sighed again. I knew I could never penetrate their thick skulls with my beliefs, even though they were the only sane thing left in this one-horse town. 'I don't get you other ponies. I don't understand. I don't now. I won't tomorrow. I won't ever.' A crowded street surrounded me. Ponies milled about everywhere, going about their business. All talking. All annoying pieces of trash tainting what could have been a perfect reading nook. All moving along their own lines, their own business in mind. And none of them paying even the least bit of attention to me. This seemed a bit strange to me, considering I was lying face-down in the middle of a crowded street. I slowly lifted my head. Yep, I thought. Everypony else was just letting me lie there, despite how out of place I knew I looked. The streets, the buildings around... I could remember none of them. In truth, I remembered nothing. How did I get here? I didn't know. Where was I? I had no idea. Why... why do I remember nothing? I thought to myself, before realizing that I wasn't going to get any answers and rose to my hooves. As I did, I glanced at my body, and saw a pouch strapped to my side. Opening it, I reached one hoof in, and pulled out a black pin that would typically go on a shirt. On the pin was the image of a black skull. I flipped the pin over in my hoof, and the voices around me suddenly increased tenfold. Oh my god! I thought to myself as I flipped the pin again, silencing the voices. What just happened? Can I do that again? Once again, I flipped the pin. Sure enough, the voices increased again. My mind felt like it was exploding under the extra sounds, but I was able to hold on for a few precious seconds before finally flipping the pin again. What... am I hearing others' thoughts? The moment such an idea entered my mind, I began to intently stare at the pin. "What is this thing? How does it do such an impossible act?" I mumbled out loud to myself. Just as I did, a beeping noise was heard from my right foreleg. I raised it up, to see that I somehow had a state-of-the-art wristphone on me. This... is the weirdest day ever. I pinned the pin to the outside of my pouch and checked the phone to see that a strange message had appeared on the text function. "'Reach Carousel Boutique. You have 60 minutes. Fail, and be Obliterated. The Pegasi.' Yeah, right," I mumbled to myself as I hit Delete. Just as I began to place my hoof back on the ground, I glanced at the screen and realized the message had not been deleted. "Hmm..." I stated. "Delete, delete, delete...it's the spam that won't bucking die!" No matter how much I pressed the button, the message would not go away. Whatever, I thought to myself. I put my hoof back down, noting that everypony had still paid no mind to me, even though I was yelling at my phone right in front of them. Just as my foreleg hit the ground, a sharp pain spread through my whole body, starting right on my hoof, and then vanished almost instantly. I checked my hoof, and there, in blood red symbols, was a timer. 60:00. And it was counting down, right from the time mentioned on the phone note. Looking up, I saw an even stranger sight. Bright red symbols, the same color as the timer but in insane, abstract shapes, began floating out in front of me. As I watched, bright green webbed legs shot out from one of them. Slowly, the legs began tugging at the rest of the symbol, pulling itself out until it was revealed to be a frog. Then, it jumped out of the symbol. Slowly, more and more frogs began pulling themselves out of each of the symbols. "What... what the-ow!" I shouted as one of the frogs hopped up to me and kicked me in the face. Its legs were large and muscle-clad to the point of being downright unnatural, and strange red lines were forming a simple pattern on its back. "It's attacking me!? Somepony, help me!" All the ponies around me kept walking, oblivious to my predicament. "Anypony! Stop ignoring me!" They just kept trotting. "Arg! There's only one thing I can do now." I charged. As far away from the frogs as I could possibly manage. "Ugh, Another week." "Enough whining! It's not like we've been working our flanks off lately. We've had time off!" "That's exactly why Ah'm upset. It's just a long, drawn out Monday, this week." "What, would you prefer not having to work at all? We need to get points, and this is our chance! Day 1, plenty of fresh pickings. We all know you need them, too." "Yeah, Ah know. Just one week, Ah'll live. Ah hope. Hey, how about this? Let's have a contest. A little game." "A game, eh?" "Yeah. It'll feel a bit less like work that way. Ya know what Ah mean?" "Of course I do. It wouldn't exactly be the first one we played, would it?" "Pegasus game 3. Player hunting. Whoever gets the most has to buy the other a hay burger. Ya in?" "Oh, come on! Why not pick something more interesting than that? It's so simple!" "Not interested, then?" "Oh, I'm interested. It's just that you'll be too ashamed of how easily you were beat to show your face for at least a few days." "It's on, Rainbow. It is on." "Okay," I said, gasping for breath. "They...better not...follow me...here...OH COME ON!" I screamed as more symbols floated ahead. As I watched, the symbols began spawning frogs and moving towards other ponies about three hundred feet away, who shrieked and ran in terror. The symbols caught up with those who were not fast enough. All the ponies shrieked one last time as their bodies flashed suddenly, then vanished. "What the hay is going on?" I shouted. Right as I did so, the frogs all turned towards me. I was doomed. I knew I was doomed. The frogs began to slowly hop their way to my location, but just as they closed the first ten feet, a voice sounded from my left. "Yes! I found somepony!" I turned towards the voice to see it belonged to a bright pink pony with a bubbly mane holding a stuffed purple dragon. She quickly dashed right in front of me, her short legs covering the distance in seconds. "You!" she shouted. "Form a bond with me! Please!" "Er..." I replied, eyeing the enclosing frogs. "I'm a little busy right now..." "Listen to me! If we bond, we can defeat the changelings!" "The what now?" "Do you want to be Obliterated by them? Bond with me or they'll get you!" "Umm... okay. Fine." Just as those words left my mouth, bright beams of light surrounded both of us, stopping the frogs' assault for a few precious seconds. "Where did all those lights come from?" I asked as the beams dissipated and the frogs began to approach again. Just then, I saw the briefest flash of pink and orange. I glanced towards it, but nothing was there. The pink pony ignored my question. "Take this!" she shouted instead as she shoved a pin towards me. "But-what just-" "Use the damn pin! Kill the Changelings!" "Uh...sure." "Get ready!" she shouted as the frogs finally reached their destination, at which point she vanished. I inspected the pin. It was a red pin with a fire emblem on it. Okay... so I 'use' this pin by... For lack of any better idea, I stared at the frogs-Changelings, as Pink called them- and imagined the fire on the pin burning them alive. One frog jumped at me, its feet inches away from my face. Just before it came into contact, bright red flames sprouted around it, causing it to fall and vanish. What... what the... I continued imagining the flames around the Changelings, watching as they one by one ignited and disappeared. As the final frog perished under the flames, Pink reappeared. "That fire..." I asked her. "Did I just create that fire?" "Wow," she replied. "You must be good at magic. Guess I found a good person to bond with!" "Magic? Is that what this is? Magic?" "Uh huh. And now that we've bonded, the Changelings can't start fighting us! I mean, we can still fight them if we want, but they can't begin it." "So, in other words, we're safe?" Pink nodded. "We're safe." "So, why did you just vanish?" "What? Don't you remember?" Pink then picked one forehoof off the ground and facehooved. "Oh, where are my manners?" She stuck her hoof out in greeting. "I'm Fluttershy." Fluttershy? Doesn't really fit a hyperactive pink... thing. "We've got a long week ahead of us, don't we?" she continued. "A week? A week of what?" "Well, the Pegasi's Challenges are a week long, isn't it?" The Pegasi's Challenges? What kind of idiot am I talking to? I vaguely heard Pink talking, but decided not to listen. Oh, whatever. Forget about Pink. Where the hay am I, and how'd I get there? I began looking around the area, not seeing much of interest until a sign caught my attention. The sign says I'm in Canterlot... how'd I end up in Canterlot? I looked around again, noting with interest the path I took to get there. Wait-of course. I'll just go back the way I came while running from the insane frog creatures. I began running back across the city, leaving Pink to go do whatever it was that she was doing. I heard her shouting "Wait for me!" but that only made me run faster. Somehow, though, she kept up easily, even when I got to the place I started in. "Hey! Why are you following me?" I snapped. "'Why are you making it so hard for me to keep up' is a better question." "Go back to whatever the hay you were busy with and leave me alone!" "Well, good luck with that! We're trapped here, don't you remember?" "Yeah, right. Keep listening to those stupid phone messages all you want, or stop being such a dumbflank and do something fun with your free time." "You're the one being the dumbflank, dumbflank. We're bonded. We can't separate, or the Changelings will Obliterate both of us and we won't win." "Win what?" "The challenges! Are you going to complete them, or be Obliterated?" "Complete the stupid challenges all you want. I'm going now." "You can't go! We're bonded." "Don't make me a part of whatever the hay you're up to." "You already are a part of it. You're a player too. Why else would you have a Player Pin?" Pink pointed towards the Skull Pin I had clipped on to my pouch. "And the timer. Don't you have a timer?" She lifted her hoof and compared it to mine. Sure enough, she had a timer too, and its time was identical to mine; 20:05, now. "What... what is going on today..." "See? I told you you were a part of it." Pink glanced at her timer again and freaked out. "Oh my god! We're running out of time! We have to go to Carousel Boutique, now!" She pointed towards a large building a few blocks away. "That's Carousel Boutique. Come on, let's go." I began to think to myself again. Yeah... right. As weird as this has been so far, I'm not listening to this crazy pony. I tried to get away from her, but Pink was able to keep up deftly.Ugh... the annoying little bitch won't go away! As I ran away from the building and onto another street, she began to freak out. "I told you, we're trapped!" I replied, "Of course we are," and walked into the street...straight into an invisible wall. "Ow! What the?" Pink jumped over to my side. "You listening to me yet?" Oh, god... you mean she's telling the truth? I did everything in my power to push the thoughts out of my head before they took over. "Okay, fine. I'll work with you." "Good! First of all, what's your name?" "My name? My name is Twilight. Twilight Sparkle." "Great name! Now let's go." I followed Pink through the crowded streets full of ponies who couldn't see me towards the supposed Carousel Boutique. Just before we got there, we crossed a street and ran headlong into another wall. "Damn it!" she shouted. "This is the only way there. We can't complete the mission now." I turned around, starting to go back, when I noticed a muscular white pony wearing armor staring right at me. What are you looking at? I wondered. As I returned his stare, I could see his lips move very slightly. I read his lips, and they appeared to say, "Bond confirmed. Wall clear." "Great, now what?" asked Pink. She walked back up to the wall, lifted her hoof to touch it-and fell right through. "Ow! Hey, Twilight! The wall's gone." "Hmm. Weird." I turned around again to look at the armored pony, but he had mysteriously vanished. I shrugged and followed her through the wall and right in front of Carousel Boutique. I lifted my hoof to watch the timer. It counted down from 5 minutes now, but then vanished off my hoof. "And we're done!" Pink exclaimed. "Challenge complete." "Big deal!" a voice exclaimed from the around the side of the Boutique. "Only dumbflanks fail the first challenge!" "It's a Pegasus!" shouted Pink. "Come on, then! Help me earn some points and be Obliterated, please!" continued the voice. A platoon of frog Changelings hopped around the Boutique towards us. "They were summoned by a Pegasus to attack us just now," explained Pink. "That means they can initiate battle. Come on then. Let's obliterate these Changelings!" "Okay then," I replied as I readied the fire pin. "Wait!" shouted Pink. "While we fight, try and send your power to me as well!" "I don't know what you mean, but I'll try." Pink vanished again, and I once again imagined flames shooting out towards the frogs. The first frogs perished without incident, some of them not even requiring me to attack them, but more and more just kept coming. Before long, they were closing in on me, and I was forced to start jumping out of the way of their legs in between bouts of flame. After five minutes, I was completely out of breath. Then came the big one. A massive Changeling, twice my size, in the shape of a bear. Its arms were made of tattoos, but its claws were just as deadly as any normal creature's. It slashed at me. I rolled out of the way and began my fire assault, but the bear didn't even look fazed. The fire surrounded it still, flames licking at its fur, and then... the flames stopped. I glanced at the pin to see it had gone completely gray, with a slightly discolored version of the original emblem slowly reappearing. I then realized what was happening. The pin needs to recharge. The bear swiped at me with its claws again, this time scratching my flank as I attempted to dodge it. I'm dead. What can I do now? Perhaps I can- Pink! I remembered what Pink said to me just before the fight: try to send your power to me as well. I began to focus intensely. As I did so, an image of Pink running towards the Changeling appeared in my mind. I concentrated on sending my power to her. As I did, I could feel a small amount of my strength being leeched by her. Pink charged toward the bear, prepared a strike, and... bashed it over the head with her stuffed dragon. The bear recoiled in both the image of Pink and in real life. Surprisingly effective, that dragon, I thought. A new message appeared then. Pin recharged. I prepared the flame again, but as I did so, I became filled with renewed energy. Glancing at Pink's image, I saw her focusing as well, sending her power to me. This time, the flames visibly harmed the bear, singing his fur and causing it to recoil even further. As the flames struck, I saw the faintest glow fly off of me. In the image, I saw the same glow land directly on Pink. Does the one with the glow hurt the Changelings more? I thought to myself. I think so, came a voice in my head that sounded like Pink. We were able to set up a pattern then, with me flaming the bear while she sent me power, whereupon I'd send her power while she bashed them over the head with the dragon. When the pin ran out of charge, she could carry the fight until it came back. Finally, after almost ten minutes of battle, the bear went down to one knee and vanished-was Obliterated, I corrected myself. Better get a hang of the lingo here. "And done!" shouted Pink as the final frog vanished. "Man, that was tough. "You're right. It sure was." "But... that Pegasus wasn't kidding. The missions will get harder. What will we do?" How should I know? How did I even end up in this game? Those were the last thoughts that passed through my head before everything went black.
Don't Kill MeYoutube Video Why am I in this game? What did I do? How come-wait, what? I thought to myself as soon as I realized I was no longer standing outside Carousel Boutique. Where the hay are we? The location was dark and deserted. Cracked stones served as pavement, black bricks as walls. A few randomly strewn pieces of trash blew about in a slight breeze that appeared to come from a solid wall. As I glanced around, I saw Pink holding a small scrap of paper, her gaze adamantly focused on it. "Oh," she sighed. "I hope I can do this. I have to do this." "Hey, Pink," I called to her. Pink jumped and nearly fell over. "Hey! Don't go around scaring people like that!" Baby. You need to try and stop acting like a foal. "Are you alright, Twilight?" I then realized I had been standing there, unmoving, for about five seconds after she shouted at me. "Yeah. Do you know where we are?" Pink looked around for a second. "It looks like Canterlot Station. This is probably the abandoned warehouse part of it." "And... how did we get here?" "Maybe we fell asleep and woke up here." "What? So you're saying that after we defeated the bear Changeling, we fell asleep, in the middle of the day, standing up. Then we just randomly appeared here, still standing up and apparently awake. That's your explanation?" Pink shrugged. "Got a better idea?" she asked before ringing started to resound around the building. I checked my phone for the mission. "Lift the statue's curse. You have 60 minutes. Fail, and be obliterated. The Pegasi." The sharp pain quickly arrived and receded on my hoof once again. "There's the timer. Why do we have timers?" "For the challenge. Were you listening at all to the briefing?" Briefing? "We need to do what the Pegasi tell us before the timer hits zero, or we're obliterated. Come on, the exit's this way!" Pink and I started trotting through the downright enormous warehouse. It easily took five minutes to get to the end, during which I was given some time to gather my thoughts. All of this sounds like some old mares' tale. But then again, after yesterday, anything's possible after meeting that Pegasus yesterday. Heh. Pegasi existing. Sooner or later I'll find out that Unicorns exist too. A few minutes later, I glanced down at my wristphone, and a piece of information on it caught my attention. "Hey, it says it's a day after the last mission!" "Yeah," was Pink's reply. "A day went by while we were sleeping or whatever." Right, right, right, I thought to myself. "So, the sculpture this challenge is referring to... I think it's Winona. How about you?" I remained quiet. She didn't repeat the question. I hoped she finally got the message. Okay, there's the way out at last. Come on, Pink, let's just go. Let's-"Ah!" Right at the exit to the warehouse, there was once again an invisible wall. "Another one?" asked Pink. I nodded. "Oh, no..." Pink looked ready to cry. "What are we gonna do? We're going to fail the mission..." Is that all you can do? Complain, complain, complain. You're never helpful beyond telling me what's what. "There's no other way out. We're trapped. We're going to be obliterated." Color began to drain from Pink's body as she continued talking, and her poofy mane started to lose its form in favor of a straighter shape. "We can find a way through. Look around!" I shouted. The less time I have to spend with this idiot, the better, I subliminally added. "We got through it yesterday, we can get through it today." "Got any ideas?" she asked, her color instantly returning and her mane puffing up again. I said nothing. We had to look for the trick, not chitchat, and I figured setting an example would be the best course of action. "Well?" I said nothing. "Well?" I said nothing. "Hello?" "Aha!" I shouted. "I think I found the trick." "You did? What is it?" I raised my hoof in the direction of a small corner near the invisible wall. In the corner, there stood a guard. He looked just like the pony that stood by the wall yesterday. "It's him. He's the key." I held up the black skull pin. "Well then. Let's see what he's thinking." I flipped the pin, and as I caught it, I saw a slight wave of energy that signaled the mind-read. The wave drew closer and closer to the guard, before... breaking apart. I saw the wave move around him and reform behind him, as if he had some form of protection against the mind-read. "What?" I flipped the pin over and over, each time seeing the same thing. "I can't... I can't scan him." "What?" screamed Pink. "Then we can't get through! He's the- hey, what are you doing?" "Hello, sir," I spoke to the pony after quickly trotting right in front of him. He stood there, unblinking, as if he couldn't see me. "I know you are part of this whole wall thing. Now take the wall down, or else." "Want past this wall?" he asked without skipping a beat. "What the hell do you think we want? A bucking ice cream?" "Defeat the changelings in this area. Then I will bring the wall down." "Oh, of course!" Pink facehooved. "Why didn't I think of that? Just ask the Pegasus. Duh!" Something about the way she said duh really got on my nerves. I ignored it. "Well then, let's begin." "Wait, Twilight. I gave you the fire pin because it wouldn't work for me. Not every psyche works for every pony," she added as I quizzically glanced at her about the fire pin. "But you should have more than just that and the Player Pin. What else do you have in your pack?" My hoof leafed through my saddle bag. "Hey, you're right." In my bag there was a small collection of pins; one with a blue blast on it, one of a claw, one of a lightning bolt, and a gray swipe. "Let's try these out." "You might not be able to use all of them, but if you can use one, then they send a message to you about how they work. One other thing. You have two Player Pins?" I looked at my collection. "Yeah, I guess so." "Okay, whatever. It doesn't matter. Let's get rid of these changeli... where are they?" "Hmm... I think I know how to find them." I took one of my two Player Pins and flipped it. The wave expanded across the warehouse, missing the Pegasus but showing me a few very important symbols. "Come on, then. You, you, and you." I pointed at the Changeling symbols and watched as each of them began to barrel towards in the exact order I called them in. "I may not share my power with you this fight, Pink. I want to use it to try out these pins." Pink nodded, just before the symbols enclosed in on us and she vanished. As the frogs appeared, I raised my hoof in the air towards them. A barrage of the blue blasts flew forth in a spectacular display. Any frogs caught in it were hit over and over by the bullets, vanishing soon after. Yes, yes! Ha ha, this is amazing! I then took a look at the claw pin. I focused on a stray traffic cone that was in the corner of the warehouse. My eyes widened as it defied gravity and raised itself in the air. Go right, I thought to myself as the cone went right. The cone responded to my every command, even going so far as to hit the frogs hard enough to Obliterate them. The lightning pin was simple enough. I look at a Changeling, focus a bit, and they get hit by lightning. One frog closed in on me, near enough to touch me with his feet. I pulled out the final pin, and swiped at the frog with my hoof, claw pin equipped. A gray slash appeared in the air, and the frog flew backwards. Ha ha, yes! As the final Changeling vanished and Pink reappeared, the Pegasus trotted towards us. "Complete. Wall clear." The invisible wall glowed white for a second. As I placed my hoof where it was, I felt nothing and could pass through. I looked around at the world in front of me. Nothing had changed, but the fact that there were so many who had never heard of ponies with wings, or using magic from pins or anything else, seemed strange to me, even when I had never heard of them before. At least, I didn't think I had. When you can't remember anything, you just never know. "Those pins were great, Pink. The Changelings didn't stand a chance against all of those." "Wait," she replied. "You mean you were able to use every single one?" I nodded. "Wow! I'm only able to use a few myself. So, why do you always vanish while we're fighting?" "Me? You're the one who vanishes." "The Changelings exist in two seperate planes," called the voice of the Pegasus. "And the only way to defeat them is to purge them from both." "Ooookaaaaay..." I replied. "Whatever. Come on, Pink, let's go." We ran. We ran like hell towards Winona. I just had one question remaining. "What's Winona?" "WHAAAAAT!" Pink nearly tripped over her own hooves. "How can you live anywhere near Canterlot and never hear of Winona?" "Can you just tell me what the hay it is?" "Winona is a sacred dog statue in the center of Canterlot. Every year there's a celebration about her. In it, you have to touch Winona in the right spot"-insert sex joke here, I thought to myself-"and you'll have good luck until the next one. Touch the wrong spot, though, and you'll"-she paused for dramatic effect-"be cursed for a year!" How long until this idiot pony grows the hell up and decides to stop believing in these goddamn wivestales? What, did her parents drop her on her head when she was a baby or something? It's the only explanation I can- "Hey! Stop right there!" "Oh, for the love of-" I turned around to be met by a gray mare with a white mane and a white tail with red streaks running through it, and she looked extremely angry about something. Trailing behind her was a pink filly, a slightly lighter shade than Pink was, with a pure white mane and tail. "What do you want?" I asked, attempting to sound as annoyed as I could. I guess it worked. "What I want is you two Pegasi dead," shouted the mare. My eyes widened briefly. "We're not Pegasi," Pink explained. "We're Players, just like-" "Don't give me any of that goddamn horsecrap!" shouted the gray mare. "You bastard pegasi are not leaving this street alive! You hear me?" There was a fire in her eyes, an anger the likes of which I had never seen before. "Prepare yourselves, dumbflanks!" "Cheshire, stop!" The filly finally found her voice, apparently. "They're telling the truth. They're Players too!" "Don't listen to them, Lovehearth. I can't scan them. They have to be Pegasi!" "But you couldn't scan me either! Maybe it doesn't work on Players or Pegasi. And look. They have Player Pins too, see?" Lovehearth pointed out the Black Skull pins that Pink and I had been carrying. Cheshire stopped dead in her tracks. "...Oh. Ha, ha, sorry." She turned back to us. "It was... just a misunderstanding, right? We can forget that happened, right?" No. "Of course! We'd probably do the same in your position." The world according to Pink. Go on a homicidal rampage? I shrugged. I dunno, maybe I would. "It's just that we were attacked by a Pegasus yesterday. Crazy mane, all the colors of the rainbow. She came in, threw some powerful noise our way, and then left." Cheshire looked down. "We barely made it out alive. We wanted"-Cheshire stopped, noting that Lovehearth was staring at her with a strange look on her face- "Okay, I wanted to go get some revenge before we went to Winona." "We were attacked yesterday too," continued Pink. "Maybe it was the same person?" "Maybe," Lovehearth finally spoke up. "What do you think?" she asked me. I said nothing. "Hello?" I said nothing. "Do you ever talk?" asked the goddamn annoying filly. "Sometimes," answered Pink. "She's just being Twilight. She has a hard time talking to new ponies." And old ponies. And basically all ponies. "So, your mission," Lovehearth asked enthusiastically. "It was to remove the statue's curse too, right?" "Yeah! You got the Carousel Boutique mission too yesterday, then?" "We did, but... it was wierd. We never got there, but our timers vanished anyway." "We got lucky," added Cheshire. "But we're not pushing our luck again. We're doing this one." "Hey! I just got an idea!" shouted Lovehearth. She seemed quite excitable. "Why don't we team up? We can get this done in no time!" Pink almost squealed in delight. "That's a-" "No." Everypony turned to look at me. "You idiots will just slow me down. I'd rather team up with a giant rock I had to carry everywhere. Come along, you'll get us all Obliterated. Alone, half of us are still doomed, but at least the rest stand a chance. Here's a hint; the half of us does not include you. Now get out of my goddamn sight." There was a good few seconds of dead silence. "Well then," Cheshire finally spoke up. "I guess we're not teaming up with you. Good luck." She spoke the last two words with heavy contempt. The two ponies trotted off, Cheshire not bothering to look back, but Lovehearth stealing one final look before following her partner. Pink turned to face me. "What. The. Hell are you thinking!?" "I look out for myself. I team up with whoever is strong. And believe me, I'm already carrying enough dead weight in this group." Pink said nothing, but her eyes spoke worlds. Why? is what they seemed to say. Why are you so cruel? I didn't reply. "Well then, this is Winona?" "This is Winona." Pink acted as though she had recovered. I knew she hadn't. "So, let's see what's up." I looked around. We were standing in a central courtyard. Ponies milled about their daily lives, knowing nothing about the insane challenges that we were forced to complete. Small buildings dotted the perimeter of the area, but for the most part, it was clear. The only obstacle was a small statue of a Border Collie, her tongue out to enjoy the breeze. "I don't know," Pink mumbled to herself. "It looks a bit... off somehow. How about we scan it?" I flipped the pin. "No Changelings. No weird symbols. One guy saying something about polishing-hmm, polishing?" "Yeah. Let's do that. It looks like it needs one anyway." The two of us began frantically rubbing the statue, grimacing as the grime and dirt covered us. If we were visible, we'd look like idiots. "You know, the more we do this, the less it looks like Winona." Pink shrugged. "Wait, what are these?" She pointed towards some blue markings across Winona's body. "Some vandal with a marker." We continued polishing. Grr. "What was that you said, Twilight?" "I didn't say anything." Grr. "You sure?" "Yes." GRR. We both stepped back from Winona. Pink was the first to speak. "That... wasn't the statue, right?" "I think... it was." The statue's marks glowed, and a symbol floated out of it. "Well, there's the curse. Come on, then, let's get them." The symbols this time spawned two wolves, their white fur in stark contrast to the blue marks that traced around their body. One leapt at me, only to be knocked back by a barrage of blue blasts. Somehow, the beast got to its feet again and snarled at me. I saw Pink in my mind's eye, frantically dodging and countering with her stuffed dragon. I sent power to her and watched as her dragon bashed a Wolf right on the snout. The beast recoiled, collapsed, and vanished, but just before it did so, I saw something. It almost smiled at me, as if it knew something I didn't. Oh, wait. Weren't there two of these- A barrage of sharp claws tore at my back, forcing me to the ground. The wolf leapt on top of me, drool escaping its mouth and dripping down onto my chest. Its eyes seemed to pierce right through me. I imagined fire burning away the wolf's tail, but it wasn't even fazed. Lightning struck it. It wasn't even fazed. I slashed at it with my hoof. It blinked. Damn it. Pink, hurry up, I'm going to die here. Wait. Well... shit. I thought about what I had done earlier that day. Calling her dead weight, chasing off Cheshire and Lovehearth... why the buck would she even bother saving me? I know I wouldn't have. I closed my eyes and waited for the monster to finish me. "Hey. Hey, Twilight! Twilight! Why are you still lying there?" I opened my eyes slowly to find that I was lying down in front of Winona, Pink staring down at me. Well. I look like a dumbflank, don't I? "Why... why did you save me?" "Because we're bonded! That's what we do. We save each other." This... this pony... saved me after what I did? "And the timers?" "Gone! See?" Pink raised her hoof to show me it was blank. "We cut it close though, Twilight. Only a few seconds left." "Really? Guess we'll have to step it up tomor"- "Well well well, if it isn't the bond that deprived me of my points yesterday!" The voice rang out among the center, not deafening but certainly loud. "It's that Pegasus again." I turned to see a blue winged pony with a mane composed entirely of rainbows. "Hey! You're the one who attacked Cheshire and Lovehearth, aren't you?" "You mean the gray mare with all bark and no bite who had that annoying-ass filly following her around?" the mare asked smugly. Damn. I like this girl already. "Those are them. Now, I'm really not in the mood for this. I kind of just want to get the Challenges done, so if you leave us the buck alone, then we might not have to kick your ass." "Ooh, a challlenge is it?" The rainbow mare smiled, then frowned. "Wait- We're not allowed to attack Players directly. Damn it. But," she added, the smile returning to her face, "there is something I can do, and believe me, it will help you, Twi." Twi? The hell? Okay, so maybe she heard Pink say my name and then shortened it a bit, but... Twi? I'm never going to live this down. "What is it you want?" "I'm offering a bonus Challenge. Complete it, and I'll let you go five days early." My ears perked at the sound of a quick exit. "Tell me. Tell me now." Rainbow Mane pointed to Pink. "All you have to do is Obliterate your hyperactive friend over there." "What?" I cried. "No, you idiot! She's not my friend!" "Your time limit is one minute. You in?" "I'm in." "What?" Pink looked horrified. "Twilight, you can't be serious! You wouldn't do this." "Oh yeah, I forgot. Fail, and you're Obliterated instead. 45 seconds!" "You hear that? Now I have no choice." "Twilight. I saved your life. Repay it for me. She won't Obliterate you. She doesn't have the right to do more than throw some Changelings our way." "35! Oh, here's a little note for ya, Twi. Your friend here? She's spying for us." "What!" screamed Pink. "You can't possibly"- "Your wristphone. You kept looking at it over and over." Pink fell silent. "25!" I took the claw pin. I focused. I grabbed Pink by the neck with it, lifted her into the air, began to squeeze the air out of her. "Are you even going to fight back?" Pink began to cry. "No," she gasped out. "You're my partner. I won't fight-ack! you... even if you do kill me... I won't...stop...you..." "10! You're nearly done with her, I see." Rainbow mane was right. She was so close to death I could see the life draining from her eyes. I squeezed even harder, waiting for Pink's breathing to cease.
Who 2 TrustYoutube Video ...What have I done? I looked around. It was dark. I had no clue where I was. What have I done? Rainbow Mane manipulated me, she... I started feeling my way around the dark room, hoping to find some kind of light. Please, Pink... forgive me. I was being... I don't even want to think about it... "Forgive me, Pink..." I said out loud. "It's okay, Twilight. I forgive you." Pink stepped out of the shadow, the eternal smile she always wore plastered on her face. "It wasn't your fault. It was that damn Pegasus. She controlled you, you know that." "Yes, yes, I know. Now, let's just get out of here." And thank God for you, Incognito. You saved us both. That's right, Twi! Keep at it! She's dead! 5 seconds left! 4, 3, 2- Stop that! Put her down, Purple! Who the hell are you? One mission per day. Only the Wonderbolt captain can issue the Challenges. And you can't make them Obliterate another member. You know the rules. Now follow them. What! I-I didn't know that- It's okay, Twilight. You don't know these rules. And how do you know them? You're a Player, just like these two dumbflanks. According to who? Now go. Thank you for helpi- Hey! You are still part of this. You let your guard down, listened to whoever, did anything you could to get out of this... you nearly killed your Partner, and it would have ended with the Obliteration of both of you. Now go apologize to her. ...Pink... I'm sorry. It's not your fault. Who are you, anyway? And how do you know so much about this? Name's Incognito. I watch over the Challenges, making sure the rules aren't broken. We have some time before another day passes. I can answer any questions you have; just make it quick. Perhaps... perhaps I should be more careful. I may not like Pink, but getting her killed is the last thing I need. Hopefully, we can just finish the rest of the challenges quickly, and get out of- "Oof!" Pink tripped over something, and toppled to the floor. As she tried to get up, her wristphone's screen began to glow, and my eye was instantly attracted to it. The picture on it was of Pink standing next to a yellow-ish mare with a pink mane. They were both smiling. They both looked happy. "Is that what you were looking at before when you were playing with your wristphone?" When I thought you were spying on me. "You-you looked at it!?" Pink glared at me as all four of her hooves once again touched the ground. "The picture was on it. The screen was facing toward me. What was I supposed to do, blind myself?" "...Yes, it's what I was looking at. It's a selfie me and my friend, Pinkie Pie, took." "I see." What I don't see is who decided to call the bombastic pink thing Fluttershy and the cute yellow one Pinkie Pie. "Well, anyway, come on. Let's get out of-" A ringing noise emanated from our Wristphones, followed by the now-expected pain from my forehoof. "Mission's here. Let's see what it is." Pink glanced at her wristphone again. "Defeat the monster at the Canterlot Concerta. You have 180 minutes. Fail, and be Obliterated." She looked up again. "I know where it is. Come on, let's go out into the city, and I'll find it." We slowly worked our way around the darkness, constantly tripping over each other and either apologizing or yelling at each other. When we finally got out, we only had 170 minutes to go. I looked up at the front of the building we had just exited. The title was prim and made me think of outfits with enough laces to choke a rhino: The Canterlot Concerta. "Um, Pink? We're here." "Huh? Really?" Pink followed my gaze. "Huh. Guess we are. Well, we can't take out any monsters right now. At least not until we light the place up." "Lighting the place up? You need something in the Concerta?" Pink and I turned toward the voice to see a red mare with two saddlebags draped over her torso.. Her crimson mane with a yellow streak through the middle brought to mind a bright fire. "Yeah, we do. Can you help us?" "Perhaps." The mare extended her hoof in greeting. "The name's Blaze Ember. How're you doing?" I hesitated to take her hoof. Something seemed off, but I couldn't figure out what. Pink, meanwhile, instantly went up and shook hooves with her. "You're not THE Blaze Ember, are you? Lead singer of the Fire Spirits?" Blaze smiled. "The one and only." To say Pink had some form of mental orgasm would be an understatement. "Oh my god! It's you!" Pink squealed in delight, ears be damned. "What are you doing here?" "Well, I was SUPPOSED to be doing a rehearsal with the Spirits in preparation for our concert about two weeks from now, but as long as the lights are shot, we can't do anything. We sent our tech out to get what we need to fix it an hour ago, and he's still not back." Ember smiled. "Hey, how about this. You find the tech and send him back here with the part, and I'll let you through. Deal?" No. We have to- "Deal!" Damn it, Pink! "Sweet! He went that way." Blaze pointed down the street towards a busy block of buildings. "Be sure to hurry, though. I've only got..." She looked at her own wristphone, and then back at us. "165 minutes left. Then, I have to go to some dumb meeting about what we wear on stage. Product placement, or something like that." "Okay! See you later, Blaze!" "C'mon, Pink. We don't have any spare time to screw around. Let's just get this guy as quickly as possible, beat whatever monster is in there, and be done with this stupid challe-damn, it's a wall." I trotted up to the guard whose presence meant some annoying task we had to accomplish and glared at him. "We need to get through here. What do we have to do?" He looked back, stonefaced as ever. "Want past this wall? I'm going to summon some Changelings. Obliterate them." "Ready, Pink?" My partner nodded. "Go ahead, then." "Okay, but you asked for it." The Changeling Symbols floated around him, and what came out of them was enough to make me quake in fear. Not one Bear Changeling, but two. Pink vanished, and the fight began. It didn't take long for things to start heading south. The two of us could handle one bear without much issue, even with just one pin. But two seemed chaotic. The street became a frenzy, dodging and dodging and dodging, with chances to retaliate uncommon at best. I was tired, and so was Pink, even with our shared energy. Before even one fell, it was clear we weren't going to make it if we just kept this up. Wait! I have an idea! Pink's voice sounded throughout my head. The pin! That special one Incognito gave us! I'll tell you what you want to know. Do you have any questions? How do The Challenges work, exactly? Only the Game Master can choose the challenges for a given week. Your job is to clear them. The Master's is to stop you. And, unless you're powerful, he will. Thankfully for you, only one group of Players has to clear a challenge for everyone. So, we don't have to do the Challenges ourselves? We can just screw around and do whatever? I wouldn't recommend it. If everyone does that, then everyone gets Obliterated. Not to mention, by day 4 or 5, there's usually only one group still alive, and if that group is you, then only you can complete a Challenge. And, one more thing. Why are you whispering all of a sudden? This is very rare information I'm about to tell you. Most Pegasi don't even know this, and if the WBs find out, they'll start wondering what I'm doing. You get graded. What do you mean? Not everyone who makes it through can go back. Depending on who the GM is, he may let everyone who survives through, the stronger member of all the surviving teams, or only one person if he really wants to. You can't be serious! The GMs have their reasons. You'll find out, if you two make it to the end. Now, I'm sorry, but I have business to attend to. Thanks for your help though. One last thing. Take this with you. A blank pin? The Fusion Pin. It's the strongest pin you can use in the Challenges, but also one of the hardest to get to work. It can be used only once every ninety minutes, and only if you have complete sync with your partner. Wait. Wait! Wow, he just vanished. Who was Incognito, do you think? I don't know. But I can tell he has some ulterior motive to helping us. And whatever that motive is, it's completely insane. How do we use it, though? "How should I know?" I began to send energy to Pink, as she was slowing considerably in my mind's eye. As the energy traveled along the path between us, it struck something. Yet more energy, sent from her to me. Power seemed to flow through my body, making me feel like I could take on even the strongest of beasts. Glancing downwards while deciding which pin I should start with, I saw the Fusion Pin was no longer blank, and instead had the image of two intertwining five-pointed stars. One was purple, the color of my coat, and the other was a shade of pink eerily similar to my partner's. I grabbed the pin, closed my eyes, and concentrated intensely. When I opened them again, I was standing back-to-back with Pink, the bears on either side of us. I looked down, and saw that my forehooves were glowing with energy. Jumping up to my hind legs, I fired a bolt of energy out of each of them. This will be fun. Yes. Luck is on my side. With someone like that... this'll be easy. "God, how far down this way did he go?" "Come on, look on the bright side! Just ten minutes ago, we found out how to use the most amazing pin in the Challenges! No Changeling will be able to stand up to us now!" "Hello! How are you doing?" a familiar voice chimed. "I thought we agreed not to talk with them anymore, Lovehearth," echoed another. "Oh. It's you two," I mumbled under my breath. "Hi!" shouted Pink. "We're really sorry about yesterday." We are? "It's okay," Lovehearth hurriedly stated. "We're all under stress right now. So, what do you think about today's Challenge?" Pink was quick to answer. "We were at the Concerta, but it's pitch black in there. We couldn't see a thing, so now we're helping Flame Ember fix the lights." "Well, you're doing better than us," admitted Cheshire. "We found out about an interesting new trick we can use, but that's about it." "Really? What is it?" "It's called imprinting," Lovehearth informed us. "You look at someone who's trying to make a decision, and by concentrating hard enough, you can basically throw a possible solution into their heads for them to use. You should try it." "Okay! We'll have to try that sometime. So, how did the rest of yesterday g-" "Come on, Pink. We only have so much time." "Ugh, fine. Bye, you two!" After everyone except me shared a quick wave, we continued on our way. "Okay, here's the place that sells machine parts," I noted. "I'll do a quick scan around to see if I can find him." I flipped the pin and looked around for someone who was thinking about technology. A few seconds later, I turned the scan off. "Oh god." "So, he's possessed by the Changelings." "Yup." "And they're making him want to be the singer instead of the tech, so he's really depressed." "Yup." "So he's just moping around in front of the place until the Changelings around him are all Obliterated." "Yup." "And the Obliteration job is up to us." "Yup." "Ugh. Come on, let's get rid of them." As we got into our battle positions and summoned the Changelings to us, I heaved a sigh of annoyance. This is going to be a really irritating Challenge. I can just tell. The Changelings popped out of their symbols as usual, revealing themselves to be two of the frogs from Day 1 led by one of the wolves. Of course, since things never can be simple, they had a bunch of tadpoles the size of my hoof backing them up. As soon as the battle began, the tadpoles all leapt on my body, weighing me down to the point where I could barely move. Thankfully, I was able to tear one off and bash the wolf with it just before it attacked. I honed in on one of the frogs and used my beam pin. It wasn't nearly as powerful as the beams fired with Fusion, but that had yet to recharge, so this was the best I could use. The frog flew backwards, hitting the other frog and erasing one of them. Half the tadpoles immediately fell off and died. Thank God for Hive Minds. They make things so much easier. I let flames lick the other frog's body as it attempted to get up, while sending energy to Pink so she could keep the wolf too focused on her dimension to bother with mine. Before long, the other frog and the wolf were defeated, leaving the tech to shout loud enough to attract the attention of everyone in the immediate area. "What am I doing here? The Spirits need my help! I have to go work with them!" "All right. Now, let's go back and defeat the monster!" "You got the part, right?" Blaze asked the tech once we were back at the Concerta. "Umm," the tech mumbled. "...No." "God damn it! Go back and get what you need!" God damn it is right. "Come on, Pink. We should probably follow him." "Yeah. Make sure he doesn't get into trouble." "Okay, I'm here... wait, why did I come here, anyway? I'd go back and ask Blaze Ember, but she'd probably murder me. I'm sure the owner of the Concerta would know, but to ask him, I'd have to go through Blaze. This sucks." "God damn it! Now we have to go all the way back, find out what they need, then come back here, imprint it on him, and then go all the way back to defeat the monster. I knew this would be an annoying one." As we crept into the Concerta, I flipped my Player Pin to see if I could hear the owner's thoughts. God, how long does it take to get a bucking fuse, anyway? "Fuse. Got it," I whispered. -- Damn, why am I here again? I can't remember for the life of m- the fuse, yes! That's what I need! "Okay, Pink. As long as he doesn't forget between now and buying it, we're good." "Okay, Blaze. We just went all the way out there to find him, then all the way back here to find out he didn't have what he needed, all the way to the store with him, all the way here again to find out what we needed, all the way back there to tell him, then back here again. For the love of all that is good and holy, tell us the lights are working." "Don't you worry. The lights are on now. Go in and do what you need. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we can practice today after all, but I hear the meeting is handing out free kickass stuff, so I can at least look forward to that." "Thanks," Pink hurriedly replied as we walked in. "One last thing, you two. The others? They'll help you immensely. Don't leave them like you did before." "What do you think she's talking about, Twilight?" "Not important. You see the monster?" I asked as I looked around. "Looks like a big empty room to me." "Umm... I see it, all right," Pink whispered. She was looking straight up. I shot my gaze up with her, and nearly tripped over myself in surprise. A bat. A giant, yellow-bodied, purple-winged bat Changeling. Great. Just great. Pink vanished to her own dimension, and the lights went out. I couldn't see a thing, but I could hear the bat's swooshes and shrieks. Glancing at Pink's dimension, I saw that it was surprisingly different, with the lights still on and a variety of smaller bats sucking electricity from some overhead wires. Since I was clearly not going to be able to Obliterate anything in this dark, I concentrated on keeping away from the bat's calls and focusing energy towards Pink, who was easily using her stuffed dragon and dispatching bat after bat after bat, as the lights slowly came back on thanks to the lack of any power-sucking Changelings. Several minutes later, when the room was light enough to see, I fired my beams at the bat. They all connected, but the beast barely seemed to notice. I tried slashing it and striking it with lightning, but it couldn't have cared less and continued swooshing down at me in an attempt to strike me with its claws. Light! It's weak to light! Pink's voice sounded. That's why it put out the power. Hmm, I thought back. Well, I have slashes, telekinesis...I've got it! As Pink continued to Obliterate Changelings on her end, I lit up my fire pin. "Take this, you freak." The fire scorched the bat horribly, and it immediately glared at me with its horrid crimson eyes. Large green blasts suddenly started shooting out of its wings, and I had no more time to attack as I dodged bolt after bolt after bolt. Come on, come on... there! That's the last bat! Power fully functioning! It was clear that Pink was right about her light theory, as the Monster dropped to the ground and covered its head with its wings. Free of any distracting laser blasts, I pulled out the Fusion Pin and sent energy to Pink. "God, that was a tough Challen-oh crap." "What is it?" "That wasn't the Monster. Our timers are still going, and we only have 20 seconds left." "No..." "That's it. We failed. We're do-" "Stop thinking like that! Here's the Monster!" Cheshire and Lovehearth dashed through the entrance and focused their gaze on a small and cute-looking golden bat. Cheshire leaped up and smashed her hoof down on it, causing it to disintegrate. The pain in my forehoof that meant the timer had either appeared or disappeared was proof enough that we were safe. "Thanks, you two!" shouted Pink. "Without you, we'd be gone." "Same here," replied Lovehearth. "That little bat was the heart of the big one. Without your help, we'd be gone." "Wow, really? Blaze Ember just told us that 'our friends' would help us a lot. Maybe she was talking about you. But how would she know?" Pink tapped her hoof on the ground. "Wait... how did she talk to us in the first place?" "She's a Pegasus," I interjected. "You didn't guess?" Pink stared at me. "...No, I didn't." "Her saddlebags were covering her wings, and the meeting she had to go to was right when our Challenge ended. Not to mention, she could talk to us. Can't think of another idea." "But why would she help us, then?" Lovehearth raised her hoof and began to speak. "The Pegasi may be our enemies, but they're still ponies, and all ponies are capable of being nice and helping someone out. Surely, a Pegasus can still be nice to us." I don't want to break your foalish fantasies, but there must have been an ulterior motive here. "Well," Pink wondered, if it weren't for you, we'd be Obliterated, and if it weren't for us, you'd be Obliterated. How about we give teamwork another shot?" She placed her hoof in front of her. "I'll do it!" Lovehearth cried, as she placed her hoof on top of Pink's. "As long as we don't get any more outbursts like before, I'll do it," Cheshire gruffly noted, placing her hoof in as well. Well... without them, I really would be dead right now. I guess if it helps me get through the week, I should do it. "So long as you don't slow us down," I compromised. "Twilight, you have to put your hoof in with us. It doesn't work otherwise." Ugh.
ApologyIt's been forever since the last chapter, and likely to be a while longer. Sorry. I find that if I try to write when I'm not motivated, it comes out feeling really forced, and my work is not very good. Combine that with the fact that my initial obsession with TWEWY is slowly cooling, and writing this story is becoming a challenge. Not to say it's abandoned; when I start a story, I intend to finish it. But, don't expect anything to come for a while, possibly more than a year. SLTheThird
Impending IssuesHeh... seem to have run into some problems with the story. Some of the forums which contained information on Blaze Ember, one of the OCs I was using, have been deleted. I needed that info to continue writing. And, for some unknown reason, I cannot find Blaze's page. I'll work off of memory if need be, but if Blaze can please resend me the info, it would be greatly appreciated.
Credits (updated as necessary)CAST Twilight Sparkle: Neku Sakuraba. Official character. Fluttershy: Shiki Misaki. Official character. Rainbow Dash: Uzuki Yahiro. Official Character. Cheshire: Beat. Created by Vadram. Lovehearth: Rhyme. Created by Vadram.
