The Show Ends with You

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"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.