Writer's Training Grounds Entries

by Yukito

Rating: teen
Tags: Other, Comedy, Random, Main 6, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 44248

My entries into Equestria Daily's Writer's Training Grounds.

My entries into Equestria Daily's Writer's Training Grounds. Various characters and genres that will be tagged on each individual chapter.

Prompt descriptions and links below.

Prompt #1: Not everything went as planned when Twilight undid her spell on Fluttershy. (BATS!)
Prompt #2: Manehattan leaves its hoofprint on everypony who ventures into it. (Rarity Takes Manehatten)
Prompt #3: While helping Twilight Sparkle with her genealogical research, Pinkie discovers another surprising familial connection. Pinkie heads out to investigate.
Prompt #4: "What's it like to fly?"
Prompt #5: I looked through Couch's prompts this week. All of them were terrible. I threw them out as a favor to you. Go nuts, but just make sure I'm the star, yes? - D.
Prompt #6: Author, Equestria is in peril! Assemble a team of one Mane Cast member and their foil with attitude!
Prompt #7: It's opposite day in Equestria! Write about someone swapping roles for a time.
Prompt #8: A new singing group has taken over Canterlot! Unfortunately one of their members is causing all sorts of trouble!
Prompt #9: The Cutie Mark Crusaders have learned how to mix potions, fix things, and do magic! Show how they use their new skills to contribute to pony society!
Prompt #10: Something went wrong, and now the Mane 6 are sealed on the other side of the portal! Somebreezie lets slip about an emergency exit, long forgotten... OR After safely escorting the breezies home, Fluttershy also receives a mysterious book from Seabreeze to take home with her. What she finds inside of it... OR Something went wrong, and now the Mane 6 are sealed on the other side of the portal! Somebreezie lets slip about an emergency exit, long forgotten...
Prompt #11: Years after the Flame Geyser Swamp incident, Apple Bloom readies herself for her first pie delivery mission.... OR Big Macintosh wishes chimeras were the only things he had to contend with on his delivery route. What he goes up against is far, far worse... OR Applejack decided against checking in on her sister and continued her delivery. Later, Big Macintosh and Granny Smith return to Sweet Apple Acres to see Apple Bloom doing fine, but Applejack
Prompt #12: In Equestria, there's no such thing as a "simple" rock farmer. OR While it was nice to meet Pinkie and her friends, Maud Pie must now return to her regular life. She never did let Pinkie know about her other side...
Prompt #13: Fed up of being overshadowed by others, one pony takes matters a little too far. OR Guiding the dreams of the realm is no easy task. Few realize, however, that Princess Luna has friends who help her do just that.
Prompt #14: Ponyville is a place of second chances, of forgiving and forgetting, no matter what lurks in your past... Unless you live there! Well gosh, you're just plain fed up with all that! OR Making a promise is the easy part. Keeping it, on the other hoof... OR Granny Smith should have read the side effects on the back of the tonic bottle.
Prompt #15: Learning happens in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways in Equestria, as this one pony finds out. OR Thanks to her uncanny eye for detail on the wing, Rainbow Dash glimpses something she should never have seen.
Prompt #16: Two competitors from the Equestria Games qualifiers cross paths at the Rainbow Falls Trader Exchange. Oh yes: they remember each other. OR There must always be a princess at the Rainbow Falls Trader Exchange.
Prompt #17: Another pony (not necessarily a unicorn) is somehow imbued with the Inspiration Manifestation spell. What happens? OR Spike has eaten the book of Inspiration Manifestation. It has some side effects...
Prompt #18: Describe another pony's Equestria Games experience. It can be any pony not shown competing in one of the events in the episode, and can include both the event they competed in and what happened before and after during their visit to the Crystal Empire. OR To Twilight's surprise, Spike discovers he actually can set things on fire with his mind! What happens?
Prompt #19: Tirek's brother Scorpan apparently knew Starswirl the Bearded. What happened between these two all those centuries ago? OR Tirek wasn't the only creature to escape from Tartarus when Cerberus left his post...
Prompt - Season 5 Episodes 25/26: Choose an existing character or create one of your own and set a story in one of the alternate timelines featured in the finale. You have tons of space for variety with this one; it can be about anything you like as long as it fits into one of the alternate universes Starlight's actions created.

Published 2014-01-06 15:20:04 UTC
Last updated 2015-12-01 16:42:47 UTC

Prompt #1 - Change of Taste (M6, Trixie Lulamoon) [Comedy, Random]

Everything was perfect. Fluttershy was remaining still in the air, her prison of mirrors preventing her from breaking free of her own stare – which was thankfully active to begin with – and the stars were in perfect alignment. This didn’t aid Twilight’s magic in any way, she just liked a nice, tidy night sky that follows schedule.

The one thing that wasn’t perfect was that this spell was untested, so there was really no guarantee that it would work. Or of Fluttershy’s survival. Now that Twilight thought about it, perhaps holding off on the spell and doing some more research would be a smarter- Oh. She accidentally fired her spell whilst lost in thought.

“Fluttershy?” Twilight asked. “Are you okay?”

“Twilight?” Everypony rejoiced at the sound of their old friend’s voice, but it didn’t last long. Although her kind look had returned, Fluttershy was still, without doubt, a bat… pony… thing.

“She’s still a bat!” Rarity whispered to her friends as they huddled together.

“What do we do?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Girls?” Fluttershy asked. “I don’t suppose any of you could spare a cup of blood, could you?”

Chills travelled down the girls’ spines. “B-Beggin’ yer pardon?” Applejack asked.

“I don’t know why,” Fluttershy said, “But I could really go for some… blood, right now.” Fluttershy licked her lips.

Everypony backed away. “W-What do we-” Pinkie began, but was cut off by Twilight.

“MAGIC!” she shouted as she fired a beam of purple magic at Fluttershy, causing her to yelp.

“TWILIGHT!” the group shouted.

“S-Sorry,” Twilight said sheepishly. “I panicked.”

“Is she okay?” Rarity asked, concerned for her friend.

“Fluttershy?” Applejack took a cautious step forward, stopping as the pegasus turned to face her and the purple aura around her disappeared. “Y’all okay there, Fluttershy?”

“I’m fine,” Fluttershy said as she shook off the wave of dizziness brought on by two spell cast on her in quick succession. She turned to her friends and smiled. “Certainly no more thirst for blood. Thank you, everypony.”

Her friends all sighed, despite Fluttershy still resembling a bat. “That’s a relief,” Rarity said.

“Although,” Fluttershy said, licking her lips as she regarded Rainbow Dash, “Rainbow Dash, you’re looking… delicious, today.”

Rainbow Dash took a wary step backward. “Um… thanks?”

“But do you know what I could really go for? A nice, warm cup of Princess Luna.”

Pinkie Pie gasped. “Oh no! She’s developed a taste for fan-favourites!”

“What do we do?!” Rarity screamed in panic.

“Hide me!” Rainbow Dash pleaded as she took cover behind Applejack.

“MAG- OW!” Twilight rubbed her forehead where Applejack’s hoof had just struck it.

“Stop that!” Applejack ordered. “We ain’t usin’ any more magic ‘till we know it’ll work! We don’t need her developin’ a taste fer cutie marks now do we?”

“You didn’t have to hit me,” Twilight whined. “But you’re probably right. For now, we should take her to the library and see what we can find. Fluttershy?” Twilight turned to her friend to find that she wasn’t there. “Fluttershy?!”

“Where’d she go?!” Rainbow Dash asked, her eyes shifting everywhere, checking every tree branch carefully.

“There she is!” Pinkie Pie pointed to the flying batpony in the air, sniffing some kind of scent she had apparently caught.

“I smell a Derpyyyyyy,” Fluttershy sang as she rocketed through the air, soaring faster than anypony besides Rainbow Dash could keep up with.

“What are ya waitin’ fer?” Applejack asked. “After her!”

“Uh, yeah… I would go after her, except I kinda…” Rainbow Dash clutched her stomach and fell to the floor. “O-Oooooh… I must’ve eaten way too many hay fries earlier. My stomach is like, in such pain and agony.”

“Rainbow Dash,” Applejack said, “If y’all catch that pony fer us, ah’ll halve the price of cider fer ya next season.”

Rainbow Dash shot to her hooves. “I’m on it!” she shouted as she blasted into the air. A few moments later, she returned alone. “I lost her…”

“How in Equestria do ya lose a pony who’s a bat?!” Applejack demanded.

“It’s dark! And foggy! Dark and foggy!”

“Doggy!” Pinkie Pie shouted, holding up a dog-shaped balloon-animal. “Wait, what were we talking about?”

“How are we going to find her now?” Rarity asked.

Twilight put a hoof to her chin. “Fluttershy, you’re the expert on strange animals. What’s your- Oh. Right.”

Suddenly, Applejack beamed. “That’s it! Let’s think about what Fluttershy would do!”

“… Hide?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Politely retreat?” Rarity guessed.

“See us getting our butts kicked and then go all hardcore?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“No! She’d try to befriend the creature!” Applejack said. “She’d play to the creature’s likes ta lure it out, not force it out!”

“That’s it!” Twilight exclaimed. “And I know just the pony who can help us with that!”

“Are y’all sure this’ll work?” Applejack asked.

“Trust me. She’s the perfect bait,” Twilight assured. “Fluttershy has a taste for fan-favourites, and she’s already gone after Derpy, so this is the next best thing we have here in Ponyville.”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie is not fooled by this!” Trixie shouted as she looked around the clearing she was in, attempting to find whoever had left a chest filled with peanut butter crackers and a sign reading ‘give to a good home’. “Trixie is going to leave now! She’s not falling for whatever silly prank this is supposed to be!”

“C’mon Fluttershy,” Twilight pleaded. “Hurry…”

“There she is!” Rarity pointed to the sky, where a large silhouette hovered above Trixie.

Trixie glanced up and her jaw dropped at the sight of the large, furry bat-like creature descending towards her at great speed, wrapping its wings around her and… licking her cheek…

“Um… t-that’s fine. The Great and Powerful Trixie took a bath earlier.” Trixie shifted uncomfortably, attempting to pry herself free, but the batpony’s hold on her was strong.

“… Twi?” Applejack asked. “Twi!”

“Huh?”

“Should ah round ‘er up now? Ah’d have ta get Trixie too, but ah think ah can get her like this.”

Twilight continued to watch the scene from the safety of her bush. “Uh… hold on one second. I want to continue observing. For science and… stuff…”

Trixie continued to squirm, attempting to free herself from the creature’s incessant licking, but by mistake her mouth collided with the batpony’s, and for some reason she found herself unable to pull away.

“Yeah, ah’m puttin’ a stop ta this right now,” Applejack said as she left the bush, rope at the ready.

“Really girls, I’m fine,” Fluttershy assured as her friends continued to eye her suspiciously. “I’ve had no strange cravings, and I haven’t been turning into any strange bat-like creatures.”

“Ya sure?” Applejack asked. “Ah mean, it looks like the spell worked, but so did the last five times.”

“I promise. I’m one hundred percent pony again.”

Twilight smiled. “Well, it seems that everything is back to normal.”

“Thank goodness for that,” Rarity said. “What say we celebrate with a trip to the spa? Facials for everypony!”

“Uh, no thanks,” Rainbow Dash said. “But I am glad to see your yourself again.”

“So am I,” Fluttershy said. “And I’m sorry Rarity, but I’m going to have to take a rain check. Angel Bunny was up last night with a terrible fever, and I really need to be there for him right now.”

“I see… Well, in any case, it’s good to have our friend back,” Rarity said as she reached towards Fluttershy and gave her a hug. She then turned and began to leave. “Tata. I do hope poor Angel gets well soon.”

“I should get going, too,” Twilight said. “Those books aren’t going to read themselves. Not until I master that spell I’m working on.”

“Ah have ta make up for all the lost time those fruit bats cost me,” Applejack said as she turned to leave with Twilight.

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash also waved their goodbyes and left, leaving Fluttershy outside of her cottage, waving goodbye to all of her friends.

Moments later, the door to her cottage opened. “Are they gone?” a voice asked from inside.

“They are,” Fluttershy said as she turned to face Trixie standing at her doorway.

“Good! Then get back in here,” Trixie said with a grin on her face. “The Great and Powerful Trixie demands an encore.”

With a giggle, Fluttershy entered her cottage with Trixie and closed the door.

Author's Note

Check out the other submissions by various authours here: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2014/01/writing-training-grounds-001-bats.html

Prompt #2 - Trust Issues (Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, Lyra Heartstrings) [Slice-of-Life]

It was a typical afternoon for Rarity at Carousal Boutique as she hummed a delightful melody and ran garment after garment through her sewing machine, creating beautiful works of craftsmanship that was certain to bring the customers running to her door at full gallop.

The toll of the bell behind her told Rarity that somepony had entered her shop. Turning her machine off, she turned around to greet her new customer. “Welcome to Carousal Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique, and magnifique. How may I-”

“PRESENT!” Rarity took a step back as a pair of eyes suddenly filled her entire vision. The eyes retreated a bit, revealing the head of the green unicorn mare they belonged to. “Need a present, now!”

Rarity pushed the unicorn away from her personal space and cleared her throat. “Lyra, darling, please calm down. Now, what exactly is the problem?”

Lyra took a deep breath. “Bon Bon’s birthday is tomorrow and I totally spaced on it! I haven’t got her a present yet and I can’t ask her what she wants ‘cause then she’ll know I left it to the last minute!” Lyra fell to the floor, head in her hooves. “Rarity, my pal, you’ve gotta help me!”

Rarity wasn’t aware that she was this pony’s ‘pal’, but regardless, there was a pony in distress at her hooves and that wasn’t a problem that was going to go unresolved. “Fear not, Lyra Heartstrings! I have just the thing for you.” With a glow of her horn, Rarity brought in a dress from her back room. When Lyra looked up to see the dress, her distress suddenly turned to excitement. “I’ve had this lying around for some time now. I think it just suit Bon Bon so very well, don’t you?”

“I’ll take it!” Lyra shouted as she jumped to her hooves before deflating a little. “Ah, but see, here’s the thing… I’m a little short on bits right now, so-”

“Not to worry. I will accept payments in installations,” Rarity said.

“Wow, thanks!”

“Please, do not mention it. Now then, let me just wrap this up for you.” Whilst Rarity ventured off to the side to place the garment away into a suitable, waterproof bag, Lyra decided to look around the shop for a bit. Her eyes fell on a curtain draped around a bunch of ponnequins.

“Oh! I bet these are the costumes for that upcoming fashion show in the town square!”

“Right you are, darling,” Rarity said with a prideful smile on her face. “I dare say that they are my greatest creations yet, sure to take the town, neigh, the world by storm.”

‘You say that about all your creations,’ Lyra thought as she reached a hoof out to the curtain. “Can I take a peek?” Lyra’s hoof touched the curtain, but was suddenly slapped away by a white hoof.

“No!” Rarity shouted, suddenly to Lyra’s side. Lyra gave her a surprised look, and Rarity realised what she had just done. “I-I mean, no, they’re um… not ready yet.”

“I’m sure they still look fine,” Lyra said as she turned back to the curtain, but her view was obstructed by a large bag being shoved into her face by Rarity’s magic. “Hey!”

“There’s your dress, we’ll discuss payment later, I have much work to do.” Rarity ushered for Lyra to leave the store, pushing the confused mare towards the door quickly. “It’s been great to see you again, I do hope Bon Bon likes the dress, okay bye.” Rarity slammed the door on Lyra’s back. She remained still for a few moments, contemplating her actions.

She then turned back to her designs, still hidden beneath their curtain, and sighed. “Well then, back to work, I suppose…”

A few minutes passed by as Rarity continued to work her magic – both literally and metaphorically – on her designs. The bell rang, once again distracting her from her work, but this time it was accompanied by a familiar voice. “Hi there, Rarity. Mind if I come in?”

Rarity turned to her friend with a welcoming smile. “Twilight, darling! What a pleasant surprise!”

“I was just passing by while doing some shopping and decided to stop in and say hi,” Twilight said as she removed her saddlebags and placed them by the door. “I see you’re ‘in the zone’ today.”

“Oh yes, quite,” Rarity said with an ecstatic nod. “Would you like some tea, Twilight?”

“No thanks. I don’t intend to stay long.” Twilight looked around the shop, her eyes landing on a curtain covering a few ponnequins. “Are those the designs for the upcoming fashion show?”

Rarity’s facial expression suddenly changed from excited to uneasy. “W-Why yes. Yes they are.”

“I’m sure they look lovely,” Twilight said as she approached the designs. “You mind if I take a look?”

“W-Well, they’re not finished yet, so I-”

“That’s okay. I’m sure they still look lovely.” Twilight’s magic grabbed the curtain, but it was suddenly met by the other unicorns’. “… Rarity?”

“Twilight, please. I don’t want you to see them just yet.”

Twilight cancelled her magic and turned to Rarity. “And why not?” she asked.

Rarity scuffed a hoof against the floor. “I… I just don’t, okay? Would you like to see my other designs, though? I’m sure you’ll like them much more than-”

“Rarity, I ran into Lyra on the way here,” Twilight said, bring a sweat to Rarity’s brow. “She told me you were acting quite unlike yourself when she tried to look at your dresses.”

“Oh… she said that?” Rarity asked in an innocent tone. It clearly wasn’t fooling Twilight, though. “… Okay, so maybe I was acting a little rude to her. But Twilight, you don’t understand.”

“Then why don’t you try explaining it to me?” Twilight asked. “That’s what friends are for, right?”

Rarity sighed and lowered her head in defeat. “Yes, yes. You’re quite right… You see, Twilight, after that fiasco that took place in Manehatten, I’ve been feeling a little bit… insecure with my designs. I just don’t want to risk anypony stealing them again like last time.”

“But Rarity, that was just one time,” Twilight said. “And you know the ponies here in Ponyville. You don’t have to feel paranoid around them. They’re your friends.”

“So was Suri, once upon a time,” Rarity said, bitterness clear in her tone. “She and I used to make clothes together, you know? We would put our creative minds together and design the most unique garments that, even to this day, I alone could not hope to create.”

“But that was a long time ago,” Twilight said. “Suri changed during her time in Manehatten, but your friends here in Ponyville won’t change the same way. At least not overnight.”

“But Twilight, it’s not as though it was Suri alone that was almost responsible for my downfall.” Rarity turned her head to look at the purple fabric lying on her desk. “I gave her that fabric, and I allowed her to see my designs, simply because I thought it was the friendly thing to do. I thought that generosity would never go unrewarded, but in that big city, I learned that sometimes it can lead to sever punishments.”

Rarity looked to Twilight with large, wide eyes, tears threatening to spill as her bottom lip quivered. “Twilight, was I just being foolish all this time? Was it naïve of me to believe that a generous deed would always be passed around?”

Twilight reached forward and hugged her friend. “Of course not, Rarity. Your generosity is part of who you are, and it’s one of the things that makes me proud to be your friend. You weren’t wrong for trying to show those other ponies some generosity. The ones who betrayed your good will were wrong, and they were punished.” Twilight pulled back and wiped the tears from Rarity’s face with her wing. “They were punished by missing the chance to have such a great friend like you. Suri especially.”

Rarity smiled. “Twilight… I’m sorry, Twilight. I’ve been such a fool.” Rarity’s magic wrapped around the curtain hiding her designs, but it was met by Twilight’s. “Didn’t you want to see them?”

“I’ll wait until the fashion show,” Twilight said. Rarity nodded and released her magic. “Don’t ever lose that generous spirit. It’s part of what makes you who you are.”

“I won’t, Twilight. Thank you.”

Twilight turned to leave, but stopped for a moment to add, “Oh, but do be careful about how much generosity you show to your competition. A little’s fine, but don’t forget to save some for yourself, too.”

Rarity smiled and nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Author's Note

Check out the other submissions by various authours here: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2014/01/writing-training-grounds-002-rarity.html

Prompt #3 - Tricksy Genetics (M6, Trixie Lulamoon, Rainbow Blitz) [Slice-of-Life]

“Sorry to hear that, Pinkie,” Twilight said as she stashed away a stack of her scrolls onto her shelf. “I know you were really excited to be a part of Applejack’s family-”

“Oh, it’s okay,” Pinkie Pie said. “Even if we’re not related, we’re still family! Right, Applejack?”

“Darn tootin’,” Applejack replied. “An’ ye’re more than welcome at our next Apple family reunion, too!”

“I wonder if any more of us are related?” Rainbow Dash said as she looked through the scroll that Pinkie Pie was reading, her head growing dizzy the more she read. “Er, too bad I can’t read egghead.”

Twilight frowned and approached the scroll. “Oh, come on. It’s not that difficult to understand.”

Twilight’s approaching lecture was interrupted by a loud gasp from Pinkie Pie, whose face suddenly closed in on the scroll to the point that the two were touching. “No way!”

“No way?” Rainbow Dash asked. “What? Did you find something out about us?”

Rarity gasped. “Could it be that Twilight and I are cousins? Oh, that would mean I’m royalty! Why that would be just-” Rarity stopped and looked around everypony staring at her with deadpan looks. Clearing her throat, she added, “Of course, being related to any of you would be great.”

“Twilight!” Pinkie Pie shouted. “You’ll never guess who you’re related to!”

“Who?” Twilight queried.

“That’s impossible!” Trixie shouted with a sneer. “The Great and Powerful Trixie can’t possibly be Twilight’s cousin! Her parents were only children!”

“But it says here-” Pinkie Pie began as she looked down at the scroll.

“Trixie does not care what some piece of parchment says! Trixie comes from a family of pureblooded earth ponies, so it is not possible for Twilight to be related to her!”

“Wait, then how are you a unicorn?” Applejack asked.

“It’s possible,” Twilight began, “But very rare, for a random mutation to occur in the womb that alters a pony’s race, even to one not in their gene pool.”

“Precisely,” Trixie said with a nod, “And the Great and Powerful Trixie is one of those rare, fortunate earth ponies to be blessed with the powers of a unicorn.”

“But usually,” Twilight continued, “Ponies born that way exhibit webbing around their neck and stunted horns, legs or wings. So why don’t I see that on you?”

“Oh. My. GOSH!” All eyes turned to Pinkie Pie, whose eyes were bulging out of their sockets and were attached to the scroll. “Guys, I’ve got it!”

“You do?” Rarity asked.

Pinkie Pie pointed a hoof to Trixie. “You.” She shifted her hoof to Rainbow Dash. “And you, are twins!”

Silence fell for a few seconds.

“Now that ah buy,” Applejack said, finally breaking the silence.

“What?! Me, related to her?!” both Trixie and Rainbow Dash shouted in unison. The two exchanged a momentary glare, before turning their heads away with a huff.

“It’s true!” Pinkie Pie told them. “It says right here that you two are fraternal twins, and that your dad, Rainbow Blitz, is Night Light – Twilight’s dad’s – brother! That makes you two twins, and both of you Twilight’s cousins!”

Everypony stared at Pinkie Pie with mixed looks of surprise, uncertainty, and outright denial. “That can’t be true!” Rainbow Dash argued. “If she’s my sister, why did I never know of her until a year ago?!”

“And if Trixie is Trash’s sister,” Trixie said, earning a scowl from the pegasus floating beside her, “Then why are Trixie’s parents an elderly earth pony couple from an pureblood earth pony family?!”

“They could have adopted you,” Twilight offered. “Though why you were separated from your family in the first place, I don’t know.”

“The more logical answer is that your scroll is wrong,” Trixie protested.

“Well then,” Pinkie Pie said, attracting everypony’s attention to her, her moustache, and her detective hat, “This looks like a job for Detective Pie.”

“Where were you on the night of December 1st, 2013?” Pinkie Pie asked, blowing bubbles out of her pipe as she stared her prey down, hooves clasped together and fringe holding a flashlight that was shining in his face.

“Uh, I was at home, watching my movies,” Rainbow Blitz answered, a confused look on his face.

Pinkie Pie’s eyes narrowed and she leaned closer, causing Rainbow Blitz to gulp and sweat nervously. “… I see,” she said, sitting back into her chair and blowing more bubbles out of her pipe. “Too bad that has nothing to do with the case at hoof.”

“Um… what is the case at hoof?” Blitz asked.

Pinkie Pie reached into her mane and pulled out a folder. Throwing it onto the desk, the folder opened and revealed a stash of photos inside. “Tell me: do you recognise the mare in these photos?”

“It’s Rainbow Dash,” Blitz answered. “And from the looks of these photos, she didn’t even know you were taking them. In fact, some of them seem like they were taken through peep holes in her home.”

“Don’t try to change the subject,” Pinkie Pie cautioned as she swept the photos up. “Tell me, do you love your daughter?”

“Of course I do,” Blitz answered. “She means the world to me. I would do anything to make sure she’s happy?”

“Which daughter are you referring to?” Pinkie Pie asked.

Blitz’s eyes widened, but he quickly regained his neutral look. “What do you mean?”

Pinkie Pie placed her pipe down and leaned in closer. “What do you think I mean?”

“What?”

“Who?”

“Huh?”

“Hm?”

“Uh…”

“Uh-huh?”

“W-What’re you-”

“I dunno. What are you?”

“Oh for pony’s sake!” The lights turned on, revealing the six mares and one dragon behind Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash took a step forward and said, “Dad, do I have a sister or not?!”

Blitz’s eyes widened yet again. “R-Rainbow Dash, how did you-”

“So it’s true?!”

“I’m your daughter?!” Trixie shouted, pushing Rainbow Dash aside and presenting herself before Rainbow Blitz.

“T-Trixie?!” Blitz shouted, shooting out of his chair and running towards the mare, who quickly backed away from him. “I-It’s really you… You’ve grown so much.”

“So… they’re really sisters?” Twilight asked, seeing that Rainbow Dash and Trixie were too stunned to say anything.

With a sigh, Rainbow Blitz gave solemn nod of his head. “It’s true. Rainbow Dash and Trixie are twins…”

“Dad…” Rainbow Dash approached her father. “How could you… You never told me… Why?”

“I’m sorry,” Blitz said, to both of his daughters. “I’m truly, truly sorry. I… I didn’t know what to do.”

“Perhaps you should take a deep breath and start from the beginning,” Rarity suggested.

“And it had better be a damn good story,” Trixie said in a threatening tone.

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Don’t talk like that to my dad!”

“It’s okay,” Blitz said before taking a deep breath. “… She has every right to be angry with me. What I did was inexcusable. You see, it was shortly after the two of you had been born. Your mother fell ill and spent a lot of her time in the hospital, and I was unable to support the both of you with the job that I had.

“I tried to find another job that paid more, but for a high school dropout, there weren’t exactly many options available. It was a difficult choice to make, but ultimately I decided that the only way for both of you to live happy, healthy lives, was to give one of you up…”

“T-That’s horrible!” Trixie shouted. “So you just dumped the unicorn off on some random earth pony family so that the other one could live happily ever after?!”

“Of course not!” Blitz defended. “I knew the ponies I decided to give you up to. They were a nice couple who were unable to conceive a child of their own, so it was seemingly a decision that would benefit us all. But the more time that passed, the more I wondered what had ever happened to that filly I gave up. What was she doing? What kind of mare was she becoming? Was she happy? Did she know the truth about me? Did she… hate me?”

Blitz sighed. “Eventually, my fear got the best of me, and I asked your parents to never tell you where you truly came from. I… I was a coward. I never wanted the time to come that I had to face you… but now that it’s happened, I’m actually glad that it did. Trixie, I’m not asking for your forgiveness, but you have to know, what I did, I did it because I love you, and-”

“Enough,” Trixie said, turning her head to the side. “It doesn’t matter. The fact is that you abandoned me. It’s too late for you to be my dad at this point.”

“Don’t you think that that’s a little harsh?” Rarity asked. “He may have given you up, but he is still your father.”

Rainbow Dash looked between Trixie and Rainbow Blitz, a conflicted expression on her face and she took in the situation. Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore. With a groan, she ran behind Trixie and pushed her towards their dad.

“W-What are you doing?!” Trixie demanded.

“What a good sister should be doing!” Rainbow answered. “Dad’s obviously feeling guilty, and you’re not making it any better! Can’t you just try to forgive him?”

“Why should I?!” Trixie asked, glaring at Rainbow Dash.

“Because we’re family, and that’s what family does!” Rainbow Dash answered, returning Trixie’s glare.

After a few moments, Trixie huffed and turned away. “… I suppose… Trixie can give him another chance.” Rainbow Blitz’s face lit up with some hope, as did the faces of everypony else gathered. “After all, it’s not like Goldie Delicious was a terrible mother.”

Applejack’s eyes shot wide open. “Wait. Goldie Delicious?”

Trixie nodded. “Oh. My. GOOOOOOOOOSH!” Pinkie Pie screamed as she jumped into the air and landed back onto the cloud, gathering everybody except for Rarity and Rainbow Blitz into a big group hug. “You know what this means?! We’re all related in some way! ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY!”

Rarity frowned as she watched from the sidelines. “Ugh! What about me?! Aren’t I related in some way?”

Pinkie Pie released everypony from her hug and checked the scroll once more before gasping.

“Yes, yes?!” Rarity asked, stars in her eyes and a wide smile on her face.

“Sorry. I got nothin’,” Pinkie Pie replied with a shrug, before stretching her forelegs and returning to her previous group hug.

With a huff, Rarity stomped the floor and turned away. “Stupid family.”

Author's Note

So, uh, the punchline was supposed to be that everypony was part of this big, happy family except for poor Rarity (let's be fair, she can just buy a new family). Then shortly after publishing, I realised... I totally forgot all about Fluttershy. Like, not even intentionally. I totally meant to include everypony from the Mane 6, but I guess somehow I just totally spaced on her existence as I was writing this.

So, uh... l-let's not worry about that and just cheer for Trixie's new happy family, shall we? ^_^;;

... Please don't kill me in my sleep, Fluttershy lovers :S

Check out the other submissions by various authours here: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2014/01/writing-training-grounds-003-pinkie.html

Prompt #4 - What is Flight? Baby Don't Kill Me (Trixie Lulamoon, Lightning Dust, Spitfire) [Slice-of-Life, Comedy]

Lightning Dust soared through the air as fast as she could, narrowing her eyes and grinning as she felt the heavy wind resistance pushing against her. Three hoops ahead of her, in a straight line… amateur stuff.

But when you introduce a scolding beam of magic spontaneously shooting upwards directly in front of her, suddenly it becomes interesting. In just a split-second, Lightning Dust had to rear up her forelegs, extend her wings and close her feathers, and swerve to the side. She had no time to waste though, and in the next second had to resume her streamlined position and pick up speed.

As she closed in the on the final three hoops, it seemed that the race was going to end swiftly… until her wing clipped against the sides of all three hoops. Lightning Dust clicked her tongue as she checked her wing. It seemed fine; nothing more than a few fallen feathers. Circling around, Lightning Dust slowed herself down as she landed gracefully onto the ground beneath her.

“Eighty seconds,” Trixie said as she checked her stopwatch. “Add eighteen seconds for the six hoops you touched, and that gives you ninety-eight seconds. Two seconds less than your previous!”

“Still not good enough,” Lightning Dust muttered as she glared at the stopwatch in Trixie’s magic. “The Equestrian Record is eighty-four seconds, and that was with only one clipped hoop! If I go any faster, I won’t be able to maneuver right…”

“Nopony’s beat that record in over five hundred years,” Trixie said with a grin. “You really think you got what it takes?”

“Next Captain of the Wonderbolts? Duh!”

“Anyway,” Trixie continued, “The real thing won’t have me firing my magic at you or bringing the obstacles to life. Your time would be much shorter without all those distractions.”

“No it wouldn’t. Your stuff is lame, I barely even notice it,” Lightning Dust returned. “You gotta step up your game, too! I can’t get better with weak courses like this!”

“Just trying not to kill you,” Trixie said calmly. “If you died and had to miss the Games, Trixie would never hear the end of it.”

“Well, let’s go it again!” Lightning Dust flexed her wings as she prepared to run the course one more time.

“Hey,” Trixie said, examining Lightning’s wings as they flapped up=and-down slowly.

“Yeah?”

“What’s it like to fly?”

“Huh? Where’d that come from?”

“Trixie was just curious. In case you hadn’t noticed, she’s not a pegasus.”

Lightning put a hoof to her chin. “Uh, well let’s see… It’s like… awesome?” Trixie gave Lightning Dust a flat look. “Uh, well… you know that feeling you run so fast you almost break the sound barrier?”

“No.”

Lightning felt like her head was going to burn out as she tried harder to think of a suitable analogy. “Then, you know when you stick your head out of a train window when it’s moving?”

“Trixie is not five years old. Or a dog.”

“… You ever do it when you were five?”

Trixie sighed and put a hoof to her face as she shook her head. “Never mind. Let’s just get back to training.”

“Hey, what can I say?” Lightning asked with a shrug. “I don’t waste time thinking how to describe something, I just do it.”

“Yes yes. Trixie should have known better than to ask a high school dropout such a question.”

“I didn’t drop out!” Lightning protested. “I just… missed a few exams…”

“Like all of the essential ones,” Trixie returned with a smirk.

Lightning Dust glared and grit her teeth at Trixie, thinking of a witty response to the cocky showmare… when an even better idea popped into her head. “Okay, tell ya what… I’ll show you what flying’s like!”

Trixie’s cocksure grin suddenly fell. “Pardonne moi?” Before she could teleport to safety, a cyan blur swept into the air at an alarming speed, causing the showmare to scream involuntarily as the ground moved further and further from her eyes.

“Hold on tight!” Lightning – now floating below Trixie with the showmare on her back – instructed.

“W-Wait. What are you-”

Lightning Dust kicked off and soared through the skies, leaving a lightning trail behind and a panicking Trixie gripping her throat tightly. “T-Trixie! Hard to… breath!”

Trixie loosened her grip slowly as she gradually got used to sailing at dangerous speeds many miles above the ground without any safety precautions whatsoever on the back of the most impulsive flyer ever-

“Trixie wants off!” Trixie demanded. “AND BY THAT, SHE MEANS GENTLY, ON THE GROUND, AND WITH ALL OF HER BONES INTACT!”

“But this is what you wanted, right?!” Lightning shouted over the strong wind.

“Trixie was just asking, you didn’t have to-”

“Just be quiet for a second and look!”

“Look at what? There’s nothing-” Trixie stopped as she raised her head to look directly in front of her. The wind rushing through her mane and her coat. The amazing, deep blue azure sky that she had never really noticed before. The fact that she was above the clouds, and that the ponies below her looked like mere ants to her… moreso than they did before. The mountains in the distance, the bright sunlight, the chilling temperatures, and the rush of adrenaline through her system.

She had never felt so alive. She had never experienced anything so exciting since her magical ‘episode’ as a filly. She wanted to go faster. She wanted to go further. She wanted to conquer the wings and break the sound barrier!

“Alright, goin’ down now.” And just like that, Lightning Dust had shattered her joy. Like a mother pulling her child out of a ball pen. And Trixie was the child.

“No! Not yet!” Trixie demanded. “Just a little longer! And go as fast as you can!”

“Hey, you’re not exactly light, y’know?” Lightning didn’t need to look up to feel the heated glare to the back of her head. “Besides, I waste any more time not practisin’, the captain will- Oh, crud.”

As the two touched down to the ground and Trixie leapt off of Lightning Dust’s back, Spitfire tapped her hoof impatiently, waiting for an explanation. “… It was a new training technique?” Trixie offered. It didn’t seem to fly.

“The entry examinations are going to start in just a few hours,” Spitfire reminded the two, “And you two are messing around in the sky instead of perfecting the course! Not to mention all this I’ve been hearing about you two altering the course!”

“Relax, Captain!” Lightning Dust said as she approached Spitfire. “My time’s less than a hundred seconds! I got this in the bag. Lightning Dust will be representing Cloudsdale in this year’s flying obstacle course, you can count on it!”

“What were the two of you even doing up there?” Spitfire asked with an exasperated sigh.

“Trixie wanted to know what flying’s like,” Lightning explained.

“And it was great!” Trixie commented. “Until Lightning had to ruin it by landing. Honestly, Trixie thought that you pegasi were unlucky with not being able to use magic, but she never realised that flying was such a rush!”

“If you like it so much,” Spitfire started, “Why not use one of those magic wing spells?”

Trixie waved a hoof dismissively. “Because Trixie has already checked every major library in Equestria, including the Royal Archives – which has literally no security – and has found only one document on said spell… and the page is smudged.”

“Huh… Well, that new princess, Twilight Sparkle, I saw her friend use the spell just a year ago.”

Trixie’s eyes widened. “You don’t say…” The wheels in Trixie’s head began to turn, and an idea took shape. “You’ll have to excuse Trixie. Something urgent has come up.”

“Hey, wait!” Lightning shouted after Trixie as she ran away. “What about my training?!”

“You’ll have to do it by yourself,” Spitfire said. “Using the actual course! Not some stupid death gauntlet!”

Lightning kicked the ground with a huff as Spitfire turned and walked away. “Ugh! Why does everypony have to be so lame?!”

Author's Note

I was so disappointed at the lack of Lightning Dust in this episode. With all them background/minor character cameos, not one hint of Lightning Dust? Not even her in the background just flying through hoops? Seems like such a waste. I'd love to see her come back as like a friendly rival to Rainbow Dash, and it would have also been a good chance to provide some closure to her very vague punishment in WA, but sadly, that did not happen in this episode :(

They almost missed a good chance to sneak Gilda in with the griffons, but I'm not quite as fussed about that one. We don't really know if she's an athlete or not, so it's more excusable.

Anywhom, so I wrote this to compensate for the lack of Dusty, fastet flyer in Wonderbolt Academy! (My headcanon stands that she was simply demoted to wingpony, not kicked out)

Was so tempted to finally make this the story where I sneak a DT fic into EQD, but maybe next time. In fact, I'm already cookin' up some ideas based on the synopsis of next week's episode. Let's just hope the episode itself and the prompt work in my favour :derpytongue2:

Check out the other submissions by various authours here: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2014/01/writing-training-grounds-004-rainbow.html

Prompt #5 - Discord Helps (Discord, Yukito) [Random, Total Disregard for the Fourth Wall]

Yukito sat at his computer pondering what to write, staring at the prompt that was given to him for this week’s training ground. It should have been easy; he was free to write literally anything that came to his mind, the only requirement was that he make Discord the star. So why was his mind drawing a complete blank?

“Writer’s block?” Discord asked as he coiled around Yukito’s neck, tapping a talon to his chin.

“Yeah,” Yukito sighed as he climbed out of his chair and stretched his arms. “I’ve got nothing. Any ideas?”

“Well, how about an epic journey to the ends of the world to find Discord’s birthplace?”

“It’s only supposed to be a short story. I’d rather keep it short and simple.”

Discord hummed. “Well then, how about something funny? Like I’m the host of a ridiculous game show with sibling participants. That way, you can cameo the Flim Flam brothers.”

“What kind of game show would it be, though?” Yukito asked, jotting the idea down onto his computer as he sat back down.

“How about a ‘Know Thy Sibling’ game show? You could have many categories where Flim and Flam do wonderfully, whilst Twilight and what’s-his-face keep losing!”

“And now for the shipping round!” Discord announced as he grabbed a hold of a rope that had appeared to his side. “I will reveal two ponies! The older sibling will tell us whether or not they think the younger sibling ships them!”

Pulling the rope down, a curtain parted to reveal Rarity and Applejack standing side-by-side. Flam flipped his board to reveal the word ‘ships’ on the other side, and Flim followed suit moments later. They were showered with confetti and cheer.

Shining Armor did the same thing, but Twilight Sparkle, however, revealed that her own board read ‘doesn’t ship’.

“You what?!” Shining shouted, throwing his board to the ground. “Apple Blossom and Diamond Whatever you ship, but these two you don’t?!”

“She’s clearly got the hots for Rainbow Dash!” Twilight shouted, pointing a hoof towards Applejack.

“Perhaps you didn’t notice the pun Applejack made on Rarity’s name in the Crystal Empire?!”

“Perhaps you didn’t notice your head up your own butt?!”

“How’s that?” Yukito asked as he stopped his typing to review what he had written.

“Well, it’s something, at least. But did you have to bring shipping into it?”

Yukito shrugged. “It’s just what comes to my mind when I don’t have a solid idea.”

“Then how about a mushy romance between Discord and one of the ponies in the show?”

“I dunno. I’m not in a very mushy mood right now.” Suddenly, a thought crossed Yukito’s mind. “How about… a tragic romance?”

“Ooh, sounds interesting! Do go on.”

“Well, suppose you were in love with somepony, like say, Fluttershy… which is why you got reformed in the first place-”

“Is that really so believable, though?” Discord asked. “Besides, that might cause some sparks from the community who just want me and Fluttershy to remain friends.”

“But you need to have a love interest for this to work.”

“Might I suggest Twilight Sparkle? After all, that might explain why I seemed so jealous of her relationship with Cadance in the last episode.”

Yukito thought about it for a second. A smile crossed his face as he typed away on his keyboard, allowing the story to take shape on his monitor. “Okay, Twilight Sparkle. But she’s in love with Cadance, and you see that in her. But of course Twilight can’t date Cadance ‘cause she’s already married.”

“You’re making this a little too complex for just a ‘short story’. I was thinking that Twilight was just already in a relationship, or at least would refuse to date me because I’m simply not her type.”

“That’s not really tragic, though,” Yukito muttered. “What could I do to make it tragic, yet keep it short?”

“… How about, despite seeming to be feeling fine on the outside, when I’m alone I do something drastic.” Yukito gasped and Discord shot him a grin. “An idea?”

“Maybe. Just bear with me here…”

“Discord, I’m sorry, but you and I can never be together.”

Discord grinned as he coiled himself around young Twilight Sparkle. “How do you know if you never try? Surely you must be at least a little curious as to-”

Twilight wouldn’t let Discord finish that thought before she used her magic to repel the beast and turned away. “No, Discord. I mean it. There can never be anything towards us. I still haven’t forgiven you for the way you turned my friends against me, and above all else… we’re just too different for this to work.”

Discord watched as Twilight walked away, his grin never leaving his face as laughter slowly worked its way up his throat. “Oh that’s priceless! You actually thought that I was serious? I’m Discord! Chaos doesn’t know what ‘love’ is!” His cries fell on deaf ears, as Twilight Sparkle had already teleported far away from him.

After realising this, Discord’s laughter halted, and he clenched his talon together as his fist shook. “Not even a chance, huh?” Discord sighed. “I should have seen that coming. Still, never hurts to ask… especially when she won’t even remember anything in the first place.”

Discord fell back onto the soft couch that was suddenly behind him. “Come morning, it will be like I never said a word.”

“Okay, bad idea,” Discord said suddenly as his face turned green and his cheeks puffed out. “I mean, A for effort and all, but just… no.”

Yukito sighed. “Well, it was just a thought… Maybe romance isn’t the way to go for this prompt.”

“I think you’re taking a prompt about me far too seriously,” Discord told him, snapping his fingers to make a milkshake materialise on Yukito’s desk. “Why don’t you just try something silly and nonsensical? Something that doesn’t make sense but is still fun to read?”

“Oh! Like Iron Will and Discord fighting for Fluttershy’s love, only to realise that they really love each other! … Nah, I did that already.”

“And I’ll thank you never to bring that up again.” Discord shivered. “Now, I’ll read some random words from the dictionary and you try to write a story centred around me from them.”

“Ready!”

“First word: ‘vitality’.”

Discord zipped across the skies on two banana skis at full speed. He had to reach Fluttershy’s cottage before he did. He had a message that was of the upmost vitality, and the more time that passed the greater danger she and the rest of Ponyville would be in!

“Interesting premise,” Discord said. “Let’s see what you can do with this next word: ‘innocently’.”

Discord couldn’t believe it. He was too late. The accursed Angel Bunny had already beaten him to Fluttershy’s cottage, and was innocently sitting at her side, acting just like his namesake! The worst part of his little act was that Fluttershy was buying it. Discord had to do something, but his powers were limited thanks to that tricky little rabbit…

“Is Angel a bunny or a rabbit?” Discord asked.

“What’s the difference between them, anyway?” Yukito asked back, to which Discord shrugged. “Well, whatever. Next word.”

“Right, right. The next word is ‘advancive’.”

Fluttershy could only watch in horror as Discord advanced on poor Angel Bunny frightened in the corner, his talon rising up into the air and ready to swoop down on his prey.

“This is really coming along,” Yukito said with a firm nod. “I think that one more word should do it.”

“And so it shall be!” Discord announced as he sat in his holy throne with a beam of light shining down onto him from the heavens. “Your final word shall be: ‘clincher’.”

Discord looked down at the frightened bunny beneath him. What had he done? What was he doing? All this because of a little prank? A little jealousy? This wasn’t how the draconequus usually acted, so why now?

Discord looked up to see Fluttershy staring at him with tears in her eyes, her face distorted with fear. That was the clincher. He lowered his claws and let the bunny go, using his magic to teleport and make himself scarce.

“Eh, I would’ve preferred it if I won,” Discord said, folding his arms and admiring what was on the screen. “Still, it’s certainly looking like you’re onto something here.”

“Maybe I should work in a few references and memes. People love those.” Discord bopped Yukito on the head with his fist. “O-Or maybe just stick to what I have here.”

“Why don’t you go and take a break? I’ll put all this together for you and send it off to Equestria Daily.”

Yukito gave Discord a surprised look. “Really? Well, if you’re offering. Just make sure to take out all our notes from earlier.”

“Relaaaaaax. Just leave it all to me.” With a shrug, Yukito rose from his chair and moved over to his Playstation 3. Meanwhile, Discord turned to the screen with a grin and grabbed a hold on the mouse. “Select all, copy and paste to fimfiction.net, fill out an application form, aaaaaand… done! My greatest masterpiece yet!”

Discord snapped his talons and vanished in a puff of smoke. A moment later, Yukito blinked and wondered what he was doing on his bed with a controller in his hand playing Minecraft. “Uh, what am I doing? I was supposed to be writing an entry for that prompt!”

Quickly, Yukito jumped from his bed and checked his computer screen… only to find the confirmation message that had told him that his entry had been successfully submitted. “I… already wrote one? Huh. I must be more awesome than I thought.”

With a shrug, Yukito turned around and returned to his game, blissfully unaware of the help he had received from the other side, or the creepy grin that had formed itself on his monitor accompanied by a sinister laugh.

Author's Note

So the first part of this story is based on a trueish event (minus the Discord helping me part). I was struggling so hard to decide what to write for this, and for a while my mind was set on a game show of some kind that involved sibling participants. I considered the scenario I actually wrote here, as well as a few others, including the CMC and their sisters with DT and Twilight, sisters by mutual love of tiaras.

I then considered if there was something better I could write, and imagined if Discord had suddenly popped out the screen to help me, random as he is... and then I started to write this.

Check out the other submissions by various authours here: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2014/01/writers-training-grounds-005-threes_31.html

Prompt #6 - The Line Between Sympathy and Foolishness (Twilight Sparkle, Trixie Lulamoon) [Adventure]

Darkness was descending over the land of Equestria, and a cold wind was stirring the nocturnal predators out of their slumber. It was getting late, and it was not a good time for little ponies like Twilight Sparkle or Trixie Lulamoon to be out and about. Unfortunately, they were.

“Okay, so maybe we should have rested at the previous town like you suggested,” Twilight admitted as a chill down her spine made her shiver. “But on the plus side, we’ll be back on schedule come tomorrow morning.”

“We could have got back on schedule just fine had we procured a wagon in the previous town,” Trixie said.

“That money was entrusted to us by the princess for food, water and shelter. We can’t just go wasting it on transport and luxury rooms at inns.” Twilight stopped to check her map. “We’re almost there, anyway. We’re turning left at the next fork.”

“Trixie still cannot believe that she agreed to this. She could save Equestria all on her own, why should she let you share the any of the glory.”

Twilight frowned as she began moving again, catching up to Trixie’s side. “You know it’s not safe for anypony to be travelling on their own right now. Tirek’s forces could show up at any time, we have to-”

“Hold it.” Trixie held out her foreleg and both mares stopped. “Up ahead.”

Twilight peered down the road to find an elderly mare walking slowly down the road. “We should help her,” Twilight decided as she took a step forward, only to be stopped by Trixie.

“Trixie’s barrier will only keep us hidden so long as we don’t draw attention to ourselves,” Trixie reminded. “If we talk to that pony, the illusion will fall and we’ll be visible targets for Tirek’s soldiers.”

“But she’s just an old mare,” Twilight said. “She might not make it to the next town before she freezes! Besides, we’re almost there anyway.”

“Trixie’s sixth sense is telling her that helping that mare will bring us nothing but trouble.”

“Well my common sense is telling me to help a pony in need.” Twilight moved Trixie’s hoof out of the way and pressed onwards.

“Twilight, the fate of all of Equestria rests in our hooves,” Trixie said, halting Twilight for a moment.

“Yes, but I would never be able to forgive myself if I just ignored somepony in trouble when I could do something to help them. Besides, haven’t you ever heard that ‘what goes around comes around’?”

Trixie sighed as she followed after Twilight, the two mares stopping at the old mare’s side moments later. Twilight moved in to do the talking whilst Trixie kept an eye on the old mare.

“Excuse me,” Twilight asked, seemingly startling the mare as she jumped on the spot and turned to her. “Are you okay? It’s getting dark out here. If you’d like, we could help you reach the town.”

“Oh my, that would be ever so nice of you,” the mare said as a smile crossed her wrinkly face. “Though you shouldn’t jump out on ponies like that. You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“Sorry,” Twilight laughed nervously. She turned around and kneeled. “Climb on. I’ll carry you to the town.”

“Thank you, dear.” The mare climbed slowly onto Twilight’s back. “It’s so rare to see such kindness these days. How can I ever repay you?”

“A few bits would be nice,” Trixie said as she began to follow Twilight, strengthening her barrier around them.

“You don’t have to repay us,” Twilight said. “Helping others is its own reward.”

“By the way,” Trixie started, “Where were you coming from?”

“I was visiting my nephew in Baltimare,” the old mare replied, “But I must have dropped my purse and I didn’t want to be a bother, so I decided to walk instead of taking the train.”

“You walked that far by yourself?” Twilight asked in amazement.

“In order to get here from Baltimare so quickly, you must have passed through the Galloping Meadows,” Trixie said. “Quite a beautiful route, wouldn’t you agree? Especially with the butterfly migration going on.”

“Oh yes,” the old mare agreed. “I almost considered stopping for a moment to catch my breath, but it’s not been safe lately to travel at night.”

Ten minutes later, the three mares reached the town of Detrot. “Thank you again, dears.” The old mare climbed off of Twilight’s back. “My house isn’t far from here. If you are in need of a place to sleep, I would be happy to accommodate you as thanks for your help.”

“That would be-”

“We already have a place to stay,” Trixie cut in, placing her hoof over Twilight’s mouth.

The old mare frowned. “Oh. Is that so?”

“It is. Sorry, but we had best be going now.” Trixie grabbed Twilight’s hoof with her magic and pulled her away.

“H-Hey! Trixie, what’re you-”

“Keep your guard up,” Trixie said. “I don’t trust that old mare.”

Twilight groaned. “Again? I knew you were being suspicious of her the whole way here, but now you’re just being ridiculous.”

“She life about seeing the butterfly migration,” Trixie said. “At this time of year, the butterflies’ migration path is in an entirely different location.”

“Maybe she just remembered wrong, then? She is pretty old.”

“… Twilight, your friends’ lives are on the line here,” Trixie said, stopping with Twilight just outside of the town’s inn. “For once, just stop being so trusty and treat everypony you meet with some level of scrutiny.” She entered the inn, Twilight following after her with a sigh.

“Trixie, I’m glad you agreed to come along with me… Without your illusions hiding us Tirek would have caught us by now. But you have to put a little more faith in me, and in others. You’re acting like everypony you meet is a potential enemy.”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie has travelled a lot more than you, Twilight. She knows how to survive on the road.”

“Just leave the talking to me whenever we meet somepony,” Twilight said as the two stopped at the inn’s counter. Trixie simply shrugged and motioned for Twilight to go ahead. Twilight approached the pony at the counter and said, “Hello, my good sir! My friend and I are looking for a room tonight, and-”

“Fifty bits,” the gruff stallion on the other side of the counter said.

Twilight’s ear drooped. “F-Fifty? That’s a little high…”

“That’s too bad. All we got left are luxury rooms, an’ they’re fifty bits.”

“Please, sir, we don’t have that much to spend on one night’s stay.”

“If ya can’t pay, ya can always work for me.”

Twilight shook her head. “We can’t! We have to leave first thing tomorrow morning! We’ve been entrusted by the princess to save Equestria from Tirek and every second is vital!”

“Oh, so you really need this room, huh?” A grin crossed the stallion’s face. “Well in that case, a hundred bits.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped. “W-What?!”

“If the princess sent you, then you must have the money to pay for it, right?”

“But we need that for the long quest ahead of us!”

Trixie pushed Twilight aside with a hoof as she approached the counter. “Leave this to me.” Trixie glared at the stallion across the counter, who glared back with equal furiousity. “What kind of scam are you trying to pull here? Trixie has been here before, and there are no luxury rooms! Furthermore, the innkeeper before you only charged ten bits a night!”

“That was him, an’ this is me. Fifty bits!”

Trixie’s horn flared and the room began to shimmer. “Perhaps you might want to reconsider the price for V.I.P guests? If you didn’t know, that is the princess’ pupil right there, and I am a Captain of the Guard.” The stallion began to sweat as he took a step back. “Princess Celestia has given me full authority to arrest anypony who gives Miss Sparkle any trouble, at my own discretion.”

“Y-You think I’m really gonna buy a story like that?!”

Trixie fired a beam of magic past the stallion that struck the wall behind him. As he turned his head he found the royal insignia burned into his wall. “You want to take that chance?”

“Y-You’re gonna pay for that!” the stallion demanded, turning back to the two mares and gasping he saw two purple wings sprouting from Twilight’s sides. “W-Where did those come from?!”

“They were hidden until now with magic,” Trixie said. “Now perhaps you understand that this is no joke. You are standing in the presence of Princess Twilight Sparkle, and you are treading on very thin ice. Now, this is your last chance. What will it be?”

The stallion stammered backwards until he hit his chair behind him. “L-Let me just grab your key!”

Trixie gave a victorious grin, whilst behind her Twilight gave a disapproving frown.

“You know I don’t like using my title like that,” Twilight said as soon as she and Trixie entered their room. “Unlike you, I don’t enjoy being the centre of attention all the time.”

“At times like this, it is necessary to utilise all of your assets,” Trixie rebutted. “Besides, it wasn’t you waving your title around.”

“No. It was you, and you told a big lie about being a Captain of the Guard.”

“So what? We got a discounted room, didn’t we?”

“That’s not the-” Twilight stopped herself and took a deep breath. “… Just please tone it down next time, okay? Don’t make a habit of using my status to scare ponies into giving us what we want. I don’t want to be known as a tyrant or anything.”

“You worry too much. If we had played things your way we would have had to either sleep outside, or heavily ration our remaining finances for the rest of our journey. Besides, you made the mistake telling him of our situation.”

“What do you mean? I figured if he understood our situation-”

“Not everypony is as kind as you,” Trixie said. “A stallion like that would extort every last bit out of your purse if he knows how desperate you are. At that point, scaring him into helping us was really our only option.”

Twilight gave the floor a dejected look as Trixie approached one of the beds in the room. “But I just-”

“AAAAHHHHH!”

Twilight and Trixie jumped to attention at the screaming coming from outside. “What was that?!” Twilight asked as she ran towards the window. “Fire!”

“It’s Tirek!” Trixie said as she ran towards the door. “They must have found us heading this way and planned an attack!”

“But how? You strengthened your barrier after we picked up that passerby!”

“Think! Obviously she was an agent of Tirek!”

Twilight shook her head. “No! That can’t be!”

“We have to leave town!” Trixie opened the door and ran outside.

“We have to help everypony evacuate first!” Twilight argued as she followed after Trixie.

The two ran through the inn and left through the front door. “Twilight, I know you like to help ponies, but Trixie really thinks that-”

“HELLLLP!”

Twilight and Trixie gasped as they turned their attentions down the street. A young colt was on the ground, an armoured pony towering above him. The pony was soon knocked backwards by a blast of purple magic, and the colt took the chance to flee quickly.

“Twilight, the ponies here will simply be imprisoned,” Trixie said. “It’s you they want, and if they catch you, then you will have no chance of rescuing your friends.”

“I know that, but if the ponies here are captured because of us-”

“Then we can save them another time! We can’t keep stopping and endangering ourselves every single time a pony is in trouble! That’s why this town is being attacked in the first place, in case you hadn’t noticed!”

Twilight gasped and gave Trixie a horrified look. “I-I… I didn’t mean for this to…” Twilight’s eyes widened suddenly. “BEHIND YOU!”

Trixie turned around quickly to find an armoured pony raising a tonfa into the air. A sudden clang sounded through the air, and the pony fell forwards, landing face-first onto the ground. Behind where the armoured pony stood, Trixie found an old mare, armed with a frying pan, standing over the downed pony.

“It’s you!” Trixie shouted with a glare.

“There isn’t much time,” the old mare said. “I’ve prepared a wagon for the two of you to flee in.”

“What?” Trixie asked, her voice full of surprise.

“You mean you’re not working with Tirek?” Twilight asked.

The mare shook her head. “Of course not. I am simply an old, retired mare, hoping to live a life of peace in this nice little town.”

“Then how did Tirek know we were here?” Trixie questioned.

“Actually, I don’t think they did,” Twilight said. “If they knew we were here, they would have came in more quietly, not just charged in and raised this big alarm for us.”

“In any case, this old mare is still suspicious! She lied about seeing the butterfly migration, meaning she didn’t take that route at all!”

“Oh, young one,” the old mare said with a smile. “You are forgetting something, aren’t you? While it’s true that the butterflies’ migration path shouldn’t have taken them near to the Galloping Meadows at this time of the year, Tirek’s darkness has caused a terrible change in climate that forced their migration change.”

Trixie flinched. “W-Well what about the wagon? Why would you have prepared that for us?”

“To repay the kindness you both spared to help me reach my home.” The mare grinned. “And also, the two of you are on a quest to stop Tirek, aren’t you? I could tell from the barrier you were using, and that the mare behind you resembles the description I’ve heard about Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

“So you knew?” Twilight asked with a gasp. “It seems hiding my wings isn’t enough…”

“In any case, you must flee, now.” The old mare turned around and motioned with her head for the two to follow her. “This way. Hurry.”

“But we can’t leave the town-”

“We have to!” Trixie shouted as she grabbed Twilight’s hoof with her magic, pulling her along as she ran after the old mare.

“Trixie, stop! We have to help everypony!”

“Twilight, we can’t help everypony!” Trixie said. “Trixie has told you this many times. Sometimes, the only thing you can do is save yourself.”

Twilight cancelled Trixie’s magic with her own and stopped, forcing Trixie to do the same. “No! I can’t accept that way of thinking! And I know you can’t, either! After all, you saved that colt just now without any prompt to!”

“That was…” Trixie hesitated before continuing. “If we try to save everypony, then the only result will be getting ourselves captured. Is that what you want?!”

“If I can save even one life, I’ll be happy with that!”

“For once in your life, Twilight, think about yourself!”

“That’s enough, both of you!” The two turned to see the old mare standing beside them. “Bickering at a time like this! Trixie, Twilight is right in that you shouldn’t ignore a pony in trouble when you can do something. But at the same time, Trixie is right in that, right now, you can’t do something. Sacrificing yourselves here would be meaningless.”

Twilight turned to the ground and kicked a hoof. “… Okay,” she said in a solemn tone. “I’ll… I’ll flee for now. But I’ll definitely do all that I can to save the ponies of this town when the time comes.”

The old mare smiled and nodded. “There’s food and water on the wagon. The woods around the town are a maze, but here’s a map to navigate your way through them. They should provide good cover.”

“Let’s go,” Trixie said as she walked towards the waiting wagon.

Twilight nodded and followed. As she climbed onto the wagon, she started a spell to move its wheels beneath them, whilst Trixie conjured up her own spell to mask their presence. “… I was right,” she whispered.

“Hm?” Trixie asked.

“What goes around comes around.” Twilight turned to Trixie with a smile. “If we had ignored the old mare on the road, we never would have been able to get out of here.”

“… A coincidence, that’s all,” Trixie said, waving her hoof dismissively.

Twilight frowned at that. “Trixie, why do you always distance yourself from others so much?”

“Trixie refuses to answer.”

“You hate interacting with others more than necessary, and you treat everypony you meet with high levels of suspicion. Even your shows, before all this went down, had a less friendly air to them than the first one I saw.”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie needs not explain herself to you.”

“And that’s another thing,” Twilight continued. “We’ve been travelling for a week now, and I still don’t really know anything about you other than your name. Why don’t you reach out to me a little more?”

Trixie grunted and turned away from Twilight. “The real mystery is how you are able to trust ponies so easily! Trixie has been on the road long enough to know that the best way to get around is to remain on your constant guard. Give nopony a chance to take any advantage of you, like you di with that innkeeper.”

“I’ll admit I’m a little too trusting at times,” Twilight said, “But you just shut everypony out without even giving them a chance to prove themselves.”

“It’s what works for Trixie.”

“… I guess if that’s how you feel, then I’ll just have to accept it,” Twilight said as their wagon neared the forest. “And Trixie? Thanks.”

Trixie turned to Twilight with a raised eyebrow. “For what?”

“If I had been on my own, I wouldn’t have made it this far,” Twilight said. “You’re right. Sometimes, you need to be tough with ponies so that they don’t bully you into giving them everything you have. And there were those times where your suspicions saved us from Tirek’s traps.”

“… Well, Trixie will admit there were some times where being ‘friendly’ to passerbys helped us out, even saved our lives.”

Darkness overshadowed the two mares as they entered the forest. “We’ll find a spot deep in here that seems safe and camp out for the night.”

Trixie nodded in agreement. “… In the morning, we’ll move on the next town and warn them that Tirek is randomly attacking places.”

“We’ll deliver the warning and be out of there quickly,” Twilight said, turning to Trixie with a smile. “That’s good enough, right?”

“Trixie would not be opposed to simply delivering a warning,” Trixie agreed with a smile of her own.

The two found a spot deep within the woods and combined their magic energies to create a strong, long-lasting barrier that would protect them during the night. They would need their strength, for tomorrow, they would be fighting once more for Equestria.

Author's Note

I had to look up what a 'foil' was for this prompt. From what I could gather it means 'two characters that either share one similarity very strongly, or are similar in many of ways except for one key aspect'. Hopefully I got that right.

In any case, EQD stated that Twilight and Trixie are an example of this, so I just took the easy route and decided to write a Twilight and Trixie fic that highlighted a key difference between them (in this case that Trixie isn't trusting of others whilst Twilight is too trusting. Hopefully I got it right ^_^;;

Check out the other submissions by various authours here: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2014/02/writers-training-grounds-005-pinkie.html

Prompt #7 - I Dare You! (Diamond Tiara, Scootaloo) [Comedy, Slice-of-Life]

“No. Absolutely not,” Diamond Tiara said, crossing her forelegs and tuning away.

“But you have to,” Silver Spoon said with a wry grin. “You lost the bet, now you have to do whatever dare I say.”

“What’s going on?” Alula asked as she approached the two fillies and sat at her seat beside them.

“Diamond and I made a bet on how long it would take for the dweebs’ ‘stupendously amazical magic act’ to backfire on them,” Silver Spoon said, pointing a hoof towards Snips and Snails behind her, who were both frantically trying to save Cheerilee’s dying flowers before the teacher showed up.

“They couldn’t even last a full minute,” Diamond said with a pout.

“And now she has to do what I dare her, and I’m daring her to act like Scootaloo for the rest of the day.”

“Why Scootaloo?” Alula asked.

“Because it’s ‘opposite day’,” Silver Spoon said, adjusting the glasses on her face as a glint appeared in her eye. “And on ‘opposite day’, you act like the pony that is your extreme opposite. It’s a tradition that is hardly even known about today, much less followed.”

“Wait, if we’re talking ‘extreme opposites’, then wouldn’t Apple Bloom be-”

Silver Spoon shook her head. “Apple Bloom is an earth pony.”

“… And?” Alula asked.

“Scootaloo is a pegasus who can’t fly, whilst Diamond Tiara is an earth pony who always has her head in the clouds.”

… “Hey!”

“Ergo, they’re complete opposites.”

Alula gasped and nodded her head in understanding. “I see… As expected of Silver Spoon-sensei. Your knowledge is vast, and your wisdom unmatched!”

“Exactly. Now then, Diamond Tiara, if you will?”

With a heavy sigh and gritted teeth, Diamond Tiara reluctantly reached up to her head and removed her tiara. “The mane, too!” Alula exclaimed, reaching forward and roughing up Diamond Tiara’s mane.

“GET OFF OF ME!” Diamond shouted, pushing Alula back. Silver Spoon and Alula stared in awe at the scruffy mane on their friend’s head, which made it look as she had recently come into contact with a magical socket… or just never came into contact with a manebrush before.

“She’s missing something…” Alula said as she examined the pink filly closely. “I know! She doesn’t have any bandages!”

“Coming right up,” Silver Spoon said as she produced a box of plasters from her bag. “My calculations showed a ninety-eight percent chance of success so I came prepared.”

“One of these days your beloved math will betray you,” Diamond warned as she sat still whilst Silver Spoon applied plasters to her face and her legs.

“Okay, now try to sound like Scootaloo,” Silver Spoon said. “First, you’ve got to introduce yourself to the class.”

Diamond Tiara grumbled as she rose out of her seat and approached the front of the classroom. She cleared her throat, gaining everypony’s attention. “… E-Everypony, I’m… I’m Scootaloo…” She glanced at Silver Spoon, who was motioning for her to continue on. “I… I am like, twenty percent cooler and… stuff!”

Silver Spoon and Alula could barely stifle their laughs, whilst everypony else stared in mixed reactions of confusion and amusement. “What?!” one voice shrieked from the corner of the class. “What d’you think you’re doing?!”

Diamond Tiara turned to Scootaloo. She saw the enraged look on her face. She heard the clear annoyance in her tone. She saw the insulted feeling in her eyes… and grinned. ‘This may not be so bad.’ Diamond cleared her throat and took a deep breath. “Yeah! My scooter skills are far out! Totally radical!”

Scootaloo’s face flushed red as more ponies in the class began to laugh. “I don’t talk like that!”

“Check out my sweet moves!” Diamond continued, ignoring the enraged pegasus fuming in the corner.

“Why you-”

“Why is Scootaloo being so loud?” Sweetie Belle asked as she walked into the classroom, looking around with a confused look on her face.

“I’m not!” Scootaloo shouted. “She’s being loud!”

“Diamond’s pretendin’ ta be Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom explained as she approached her friend.

Sweetie Belle turned to Diamond Tiara resting her head on a desk whilst making loud snoring noises. “Class is soooo boring! I wish Rainbow Dash was my teacherrrrrrr!”

“… She’s pretty good at it,” Sweetie Belle said.

“She is not!” Scootaloo argued. “Anyway, this has to stop now!”

Apple Bloom held out a hoof to stop Scootaloo’s advancement towards Diamond Tiara. “Hold on! If ya fight, Miss Cheerilee’ll tell yer parents!”

“Well, what else can I do?”

Sweetie Belle gasped. A demonic grin spread across her face, and for a moment, the face of Tirek seemed to flash behind the filly. “Welllll… you could always try fighting fire with fire…”

“Sweetie Belle, we tried that already,” Apple Bloom reminded, “An’ it didn’t work! It just got us in trouble with the Ponyville Fire Department, and we didn’t get our cutie marks.”

“What I mean, is that Scootaloo could pretend to be Diamond Tiara… I mean, if Diamond Tiara is Scootaloo, then somepony has to be Diamond Tiara, right?”

“… That’s not such a bad idea,” Scootaloo said, matching her friend’s grin as she approached Diamond’s desk, chuckling under her breath.

Silver Spoon gasped as she watched Scootaloo lift Diamond’s tiara from the desk and place it upon her head. “Like, this tiara is simply fabulous!”

Diamond’s ear twitched and she turned her attention towards Scootaloo. “Hey!” Scootaloo turned back to her with a grin that just shouted: ‘problem?’. “Er… D-Don’t you mean radical?!”

“Oh my! Such an uncultured tongue could never give the full beauty of my faux headpiece the proper praise that it deserves,” Scootaloo responded, giving Diamond Tiara a challenging grin.

Diamond’s eye twitched along with her ear. “W-Well your girly makeovers and jewellery could never match the stupid- I mean, stupendous awesomeness amazingness totally coolness of my fake-skateboarding skills!”

Scootaloo lost her grin for a moment as she glared at her opponent. “Like, such a crude, horrendous abuse on the, like, Equestrian language, like like.”

“Hey homies!” Diamond shouted the Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. “Let’s go hang in the crib dawgs and throw a G to our homegirls in the hood!”

“What did she just say?” Sweetie Belle asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Ah dunno,” Apple Bloom responded. “Ah don’t think she knows, either.”

“Like, oh em gee, like, so totally, like, penniless!” Scootaloo shouted, raising a foreleg to her forehead and feigning a swoon. “Like, daddy spoils me like silly ‘cause I’m like, totally a princess!”

“Gotta go fast!” Diamond Tiara shouted as she began to run around the classroom, tripping over a bag in her haste. She never broke character, though, simply jumping up to her hooves and following with, “That’s no good!”

“Like, how uncouth!” Scootaloo shouted through gritted teeth.

“So totally-mega-super-cool awesome!” Diamond Tiara threw back with her eyes and ears twitching in a pattern.

“I like, totally have Silver Spoon do my homework for me!” Silver Spoon nodded behind Scootaloo.

“I want my cutie mark so bad I cover myself in tree sap all the time!” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle gave reluctant nods behind Diamond tiara.

“Fashion, fashion, colts colts colts!”

“Sport, sports, Rainbow Dash Rainbow Dash!”

“Everypony kiss my hooves!”

“Chilli dogs!”

“If you two are quite done, perhaps we can start the lesson?” The room temperature dropped below zero. The noise level feel dead, and a harsh wind blew over the two fillies as they slowly turned their heads, inching them up the magenta fur before their eyes until the face of their angry-looking teacher was in plain view. “Diamond Tiara, Scootaloo, please go wait outside.”

“But she started it!”

“It was her fault!”

“I was just-”

“And then she-”

Cheerilee slammed a forehoof into the floor, stunning the two fillies into silence with the shockwave that it produced. “Now!”

The two fillies groaned and grumbled as they marched the march of shame outside of the classroom, their heads hung low. As they left through the door, Diamond Tiara took her tiara back and placed it upon her head.

And so the two waited in silence as the door closed shut behind them. “… Nice going, Dumband Tiara,” Scootaloo said in a flat tone.

“It was your fault, Scootafool,” Diamond responded. “Can’t you like, take a joke?”

“Look who’s talking. I impersonated you perfectly, and you made me look like an idiot!”

“You are an idiot! And you did so not do me perfectly!” Diamond Tiara flicked her mane, which barely moved in its roughed-up state. “I am a lady, not a… whatever you call that despicable performance in there.”

“And I’m not some Rainbow Dash-obsessed dweeb who only knows three words!”

“Could’ve fool me,” Diamond muttered as she turned her head away.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

“You said something.”

“No I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did.”

“No, I didn’t!”

“JUST KISS ALREADY!”

Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo turned to the now-open door where Cheerilee was standing. They looked past Cheerilee and to Shady Daze, who gave a nervous laugh as all eyes fell on him.

Cheerilee shook her head and closed the door behind her, allowing her to deal with the two fillies in private. “Now girls, this is the fifth time this week that the two of you have gotten into an argument.”

“That’s not so-”

“On a Tuesday,” Cheerilee continued, predicting Diamond Tiara’s response and cutting it off. “Now I don’t want to have to start writing letters home to parents or issuing after-school detentions, but if this keeps up the way it is, I won’t have any choice. So, can the two of you agree to get along from now on, or are we going to have to hold an intervention with all of your parents present?”

“And inter-what-now?” Scootaloo asked.

“It means making something new,” Diamond told the confused filly.

“What are we making?” Scootaloo asked.

“A peace treaty?” Diamond guess with a shrug.

Cheerilee slammed a hoof into her face, but decided to just roll with it. “Yes. That.” She lowered her hoof and gave the two a hard stare. “Well? What will it be?”

The two fillies exchanged looks and then sighed. “Yes,” they both said in unison.

“Yes, what?” Cheerilee prompted.

“Yes, Miss Cheerilee…” The two looked up to see that that wasn’t enough. “… We’ll get along.”

Cheerilee smiled and turned around. “Well then, for now, your punishment will be to sit out of our Arts & Crafts lesson.”

The two fillies moaned as the teacher entered the classroom and shut the door behind herself, leaving the two fillies outside on their own.

And so they sat, in complete silence once more, completely bored whilst the foals inside cheered and laughed together. “… Wanna skip school?” Diamond asked.

Scootaloo gave her a shocked look. “Are you crazy?”

Diamond grinned. “What’s the matter? You chicken?”

Scootaloo growled and bared her teeth. “I’m not a chicken!”

“I bet you are,” Diamond snag in a teasing tone. “In fact, I’ll bet you’re not even ‘cool’ enough to go in there and tell Miss Cheerilee that you’re skipping school!”

“Watch me!” Scootaloo shouted as she rose to her hooves. She put her hoof to the door, but then stopped as she realised something. “… No! I’m not gonna do that!”

Diamond clicked her tongue. “So close.”

“You’re a jerk,” Scootaloo said as she sat back down.

“And you’re easy prey,” Diamond responded. The two looked up towards the sky and watched the clouds for a few moments before Diamond Tiara decided that she was bored again. “… Hey, did you know you get one wish granted if you rub a snail on your cheek?”

Author's Note

*Slips DT fic onto Equestria Daily and walks away whistling innocently*

Check out the other submissions by various authours here: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2014/02/writers-training-grounds-007-simple.html

Prompt #8 - Unicorn Supremacy (Trixie Lulamoon, Lyra Heartstrings, Minuette, Vinyl Scratch) [Slice-of-Life]

It was late into the afternoon in Canterlot Central Park when a small crowd was gathered around a shoddy-looking stage set up by the four fillies currently playing their latest big hit. The four fillies were Lyra Heartstrings, Minuette, Vinyl Scratch, and Trixie Lulamoon. Together, they ‘Unicorn Supremacy’, a band consisting of four unicorns each enrolled into Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.

The crowd consisted of their mothers and fathers, and a few other fillies and colts that cheered them on quietly. Their parents told them that they were great, that their songs would make them stars, but the fillies weren’t blind. At least, three of them weren’t. They knew that their band wasn’t going anywhere, and they knew that their parents were just being nice. They also knew the reason behind it all: Trixie Lulamoon.

“She’s completely tone deaf!” Vinyl said to Lyra and Minuette as the three huddled together away from the stage. Trixie was busy receiving praise from her mother and boasting about how their next hit would be even greater. “What’s more, she can’t decide what she wants to be!”

“Signer, guitarist, violin, triangle… She changes her role every time we play,” Lyra said.

“Give her a break, you guys,” Minuette pleaded. “She’s just trying to find her special talent is all. You remember how it was when everypony else was getting a cutie mark but you, right?”

“I guess, but Vinyl’s still right about her being tone deaf. She can’t sing, she can’t follow hit the right notes, and she doesn’t even tune her instruments before starting.”

“I know you’re just along for the ride, Minuette,” Vinyl said, “But me and Lyra are moving to the Sound-based Magic classes next year. Our cutie marks are telling us to be musicians, so we need to start taking this more seriously.”

“I suppose it is difficult to have much fun when she completely throwing off our practice,” Minuette admitted, “But what can we do? We can’t just kick her out… right?”

“Maybe we can break it to her gently,” Lyra suggested. “Oh! Let’s get her tickets to Starcon before we tell her!”

“Tell me what?” The three fillies flinched and turned around to face their fourth band member approaching. “That our performance was a smashing success? Well of course it was. There was never any doubt about it.”

Lyra nudged Vinyl Scratch. “Me?!”

“You’re the one who wants her out the most,” Lyra whispered.

“You want her gone just as much as me,” Vinyl retorted. “Maybe it should be Minuette, since she’s the neutral one.”

“Hey! Don’t push your problems off on me!” Minuette protested.

“What’s wrong?” Trixie asked. “Oh! If you didn’t like Trixie singing your lines, Vinyl, don’t worry! I’m thinking of hitting the drums next time!”

The three fillies exchanged looks and nodded. They all faced Trixie and took a step forward. “Trixie,” Vinyl began. “There’s something we need to tell you… We’ve just been over here discussing it and, well…”

“It’s just that you’re not exactly the most musically-inclined pony around,” Lyra continued. “You can’t hit the right notes and you don’t know how to properly tune or play any instruments.”

“And Vinyl and Lyra want to start taking this more seriously,” Minuette added, “And it is kinda off-putting with you being all over the place, so…”

“You’re out,” all three said at once.

A wind blew past the group as Trixie remained ominously silent. The three fillies gulped. They were now hoping for Trixie to react in at least some way, but all they got was a vacant stare as Trixie’s face seemed to freeze mid-smile.

Finally, her smile fell. “I-I’m out?”

“I’m sorry, Trixie,” Minuette said. “Please don’t take it too personally. We’ll all go with you to Starcon, and we still want to be friends with you, it’s just that-”

“But we formed this band together,” Trixie said, tears forming in her eyes. “We formed this band just between us and agreed we’d all become famous together.”

“Trixie, please-” Lyra pleaded, but was cut off by Trixie pushing her aside as she ran past the three fillies.

“Trixie, wait!” Vinyl Scratch called out as she gave chase, her three friends behind her. They chased Trixie through the park and into a nearby public restroom. They found only stall closed inside, with a silver tail poking through the crack of the door and the sounds of sobbing and hiccups coming from the other side.

“Trixie, please open the door and come out,” Minuette pleaded as the three approached the stall door. “We didn’t mean to make you feel bad.”

“Go away!” Trixie demanded. “You’re all liars! I hate you all!”

“You don’t mean that! Just come out and stop being such a baby already!” Vinyl Scratch ordered, only to receive a bang from the other side of the door.

“Let me handle this,” Lyra said through gritted teeth as she pushed Vinyl Scratch aside. “Trixie, you’re right. We did form this band together, and we all agreed to keep it alive forever, just the four of us. But that was back when we were just playing around and didn’t know what our special talents would be. We’re all growing up now, and Vinyl and I want to take this seriously.”

“Oh, so it’s because I’m a blank flank? You don’t want me around because I’m not ‘mature’ enough for you?”

“I didn’t say that!” Lyra argued. “… Trixie, we don’t want you to feel bad. We’re still your friends, and we still care about you. We’ll do whatever you want to make you feel better if you’ll just come out.”

“Go away,” Trixie repeated with a sniff, her voice much weaker than earlier. “Just go away and leave me alone…”

“We-”

“Alright,” Vinyl Scratch said, startling her two friends until she lowered her shades and gave a wink. “We’ll leave, if that’s what you really want. C’mon guys, let’s go!”

Lyra and Minuette exchanged uncertain glances before following Vinyl Scratch out of the restroom. “Are you sure about this?” Lyra asked. “Just leave her all alone in there?”

“Let’s just give her some time to chillax,” Vinyl Scratch said. “We’ll be right here for her when she’s ready to come out.”

“It’s probably the best idea,” Minuette said. “Should we tell her parents, too?”

“No way,” Vinyl said. “We made this mess ourselves, so we should fix it. Besides, what if she comes out when we’re gone and thinks we abandoned her?”

A bright light flashed from within the restroom, startling the fillies. “What was that?” Minuette asked.

“That was magic,” Lyra said. “Oh no, what if Trixie’s going berserk in there?!”

“Let’s go!” Vinyl shouted, charging into the restroom with her two friends behind her. She ran into one of the empty stalls beside Trixie’s and leapt onto the toilet seat, jumping up and scaling the wall to look into Trixie’s stall. “Trixie!”

Trixie gasped and looked up at Vinyl Scratch. Her horn was shining brightly, bringing out the wetness of the fur on her face and the redness in her eyes. Lyra and Minuette joined Vinyl Scratch on the stall’s wall and the three fillies found what Trixie’s magic was doing. On the floor in front of Trixie, there was a magical lightshow taking shape in the form of four fillies – two blue, one green and one white – skipping together through a forest full of fireflies, complete with a starry sky above their heads.

“W-What’s that?” Minuette asked, her eyes wide and her voice filled with wonder and astonishment.

Trixie brushed a hoof across her muzzle as she sniffed and cancelled her magical spell. “It’s just something I do when I’m sad… I thought you left Trixie.”

“We were just waiting outside for you to come out,” Lyra explained. “But that spell… that was beautiful.”

“It was awesome,” Vinyl Scratch said. “You never told us you could do that.”

“It’s just a stupid little fantasy I thought up,” Trixie said as she looked down at the bathroom floor with an angry look.

“When’d you come up with it?”

“Just now.”

Minuette gasped. “You came up with that just now?”

“Hey, could you do it again?” Lyra asked. Trixie’s ears twitched and she turned a curious gaze towards her friend. “I think I’m getting something from it. Some inspiration for a new song, but I need another look at it.”

Trixie hesitated for a second, before her horn lit back up and the image appeared once more.

“Yes! That’s it!” Lyra shouted with a cheerful grin on her face and stars in her eyes. “I know what our next song’ll be!”

“I’m gettin’ some ideas, too,” Vinyl Scratch said. “We can put ‘em together later and see what we get!”

“It’s a nice image,” Minuette said, a smile on her face as she watched the fillies frolic through the night-time forest together. “I think many ponies will enjoy hearing a song about it.”

“Great, glad I could help,” Trixie said in a sarcastic tone as she undid the spell and curled herself into a ball. “Hope your band does well, even if I’m no longer in it.”

“What’re you talking about?” Lyra asked. “We can’t play just keep that image to ourselves.”

“Right,” Vinyl Scratch agreed. “The kinda song I’ve got in mind doesn’t work if the listeners can’t see that spell just now.”

Minuette clapped her hooves together as it hit her. “I see! Trixie can show everypony her spell while we sing a song to compillment it!”

“Compliment,” Trixie corrected. “So, does this mean… you want me back?”

“Heck yeah!” Vinyl Scratch shouted as she jumped into Trixie’s stall. She reached for the lock behind Trixie and released it. “Trust me! When everypony hears what I’ve got cookin’, and see what you just did too, Unicorn Supremacy will be on its way to fame and fortune!”

“I’ve got to write all this down before I forget it,” Lyra said as she pulled a notepad and a pencil from her saddlebag, scribbling lyrics down as fast as her horn would allow her to.

“I’ll go tell our parents we’ve got something big planned, and that we’re okay!” Minuette declared as she jumped off of the stall’s wall and ran out of the restroom.

“But Trixie won’t actually be playing an instrument, right?” Trixie, rising to her hooves with Vinyl’s help and sniffing one final time.

“Er, well, you won’t really need to be… Trust me, your part will be just as big as any of ours.”

“… Well…” Trixie took a deep breath and then gave Vinyl Scratch her biggest smile, “In that case, Trixie will do what she can to make our next hit a success!”

Four days later, Unicorn Supremacy had their next biggest hit. And a big hit it was, as not only did the parents show generally love for the performance that they saw, but so did many of the passerbys who stopped to listen and watch to the musical performance accompanied by a magical woven fairytale. Many of the latecomers even demanded an encore so that they could see the performance in its entirety.

After the performance was over, Unicorn Supremacy gathered at Lyra’s house for a victory party of orange juice and freshly-baked cookies.

“Three cheers to Unicorn Supremacy!” Lyra shouted as she held up her glass.

“Three cheers!” the other fillies chimed in.

“And to Trixie for making all this possible!” Trixie declared, holding her glass out once more, only to be met with silence. She pouted and pulled her glass back, resulting in laughter from her three friends.

“Hey,” Vinyl said, “I know we said we’d keep this goin’ forever, but how long d’you think we can really keep this band together for?”

“Hopefully it will be forever,” Minuette said, “But if not, I just hope we can all stay friends, no matter what.”

Lyra nodded in agreement as she looked over at Trixie, who was still wearing her cape as she drank her juice. “Aren’t you hot in that thing?”

Trixie lowered her glass and wiped her lips clean. “Hm? Oh, yeah, a little…” Trixie reached up for her broach and unfastened it.

“You guys,” Minuette said, “I don’t think there’s another band in Canterlot that uses magical imagery with their music. If we do this right, we really might become famous!”

The group was interrupted by a loud gasp from Trixie. “What’s wrong?” Vinyl Scratch asked as she faced her friend.

The three fillies found Trixie staring at her own flank with a big smile on her face. “I did it…” Trixie turned to her friends and shifted herself so that her flank was present, revealing a new mark that wasn’t there before. A five-pointed star wand and a wisp of starry mist in the shape of a crescent moon. “I did it! I got my cutie mark!”

Author's Note

Doesn't follow the prompt exactly as the band hasn't 'taken over Canterlot', buuuut I'm sure a loose interpretation is accepted... right? ^_^;;

Check out the other submissions by various authours here: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2014/02/writers-training-ground-008-filli_21.html

Prompt #9 - Ponyville's MVPs (CMC, Diamond Tiara) [Slice-of-Life, Comedy]

Potion-making was a fine art, and Apple Bloom had mastered it. When it came to cures and boons for various ailments, there was none finer than the young earth pony mare. She could take any ingredient and create the highest quality goods, and she was more than happy to give away her herbal remedies to her friends in Ponyville for free.

Of course, she still had to turn a profit somehow, but after setting up shop and consulting with her business advisor, money was never again and issue for Apple Bloom. Ponies all over Equestria knew that she was the go-to shop for herbal goods, and she had earned a place of great importance in her friends’ eyes for always sharing the fruits of her work with them.

“Excuse me.” Apple Bloom turned her attention away from her cauldron to find her friend Sweetie Belle at her door. “Hey Apple Bloom.”

“Hiya Sweetie Belle. Lookin’ fer somethin’, or ya jus’ wanna hang out today?”

Sweetie Belle was known around Ponyville as a master of the magical arts. Through rigorous training and devotion she had reached the highest level of magic in many fields, and some ponies even thought that she had surpassed Twilight Sparkle. She loved to use her powers to help out her friends, and whenever somepony needed help, she was there for them.

“I need something for my pet, Chappy,” Sweetie Belle said, looking down sadly at her little, white dog at her side. Her dog coughed weakly as its legs shook beneath it. “He hasn’t been feeling very well.”

“It looks like he’s got a bad case of poisoning,” Apple Bloom said as she placed a hoof to the dog’s forehead. “A simple remedy will cure this. Ah got some ah can spare.”

“Thanks, Apple Bloom. You’re the best,” Sweetie Belle said with a smile. Apple Bloom produced a small pouch and gave it to Sweetie Belle, just in time for her business consultant to enter the door and groan.

“You’re giving away stuff again?” Diamond Tiara asked as she walked past Sweetie Belle and approached Apple Bloom. “You don’t get rich giving away free stuff to every pony who tilts their head and asks adorably!”

“She didn’t do that,” Apple Bloom said.

“Yeah, I don’t need to with Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle said, blowing a raspberry at Diamond Tiara.

“‘Sides, ah’m already rich. Ain’t never been an Apple with as many bits as me!” Apple Bloom proclaimed with an air of pride.

“Rich is good, but what you really want is stinking rich!” Diamond Tiara said. “Money is power, after all.”

“Ah thought it was knowledge,” Apple Bloom said.

“Rarity said it was friends in high places,” Sweetie Belle chimed in.

“Well Sweetie Belle is neither of those, so just focus on the money!”

“it was that kinda thinkin’ that brought out the Manehatten Mares trilogy,” Apple Bloom said with a frown. “Anyway, it’s only a simple antidote. Ah only sell ‘em for five bits in the first place.”

Diamond Tiara was about to argue when suddenly a fourth pony entered the room. “Girls, girls, come quick!” Pip shouted with urgency in his voice. “It the fellows from Detrot! They’re launching another attack they are!”

“Again?” Apple Bloom sighed. “Don’t they ever learn?”

“We’ll finish this conversation later,” Diamond Tiara said. “You bring as many potions as you can to the town square, and Sweetie Belle, go help out whoever you can.”

"Got it!” Sweetie Belle shouted as she rushed out of the store with Apple Bloom behind her, parting ways from her friend as she made her way quickly to the town’s main gates.

“I got this!” Sweetie Belle stopped and turned to the source of the familiar voice. She found her friend Scootaloo hammering away at a broken canon. “All broken equipment over here!”

Scootaloo was an accomplished engineer in town and everypony knew that she was the one to visit whenever they had something to repair. So in times of crises like this, Scootaloo was an invaluable asset to Ponyville.

Which is why it was bad when a barrage of arrows rained down on her from the sky. “Watch out!” Sweetie Belle shouted as she cast a high-level barrier spell, shielding her friend from harm.

“T-Thanks, Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo said, grabbing whatever she had around her and running to the side. “I’d better take this inside!”

“Sweetie Belle, we need a hoof over here!” Dinky shouted from the side, brining attention towards herself and her friend Berry Pinch, who were both busy keeping an army of armoured ponies at bay with their magic.

“I got this!” Sweetie Belle shouted as she charged into battle, magical energy surging around her as she knocked ponies out of her way.

“No, wait!” Dinky shouted after her. “They have a new commander! She’s a… strong mage…”

Sweetie Belle chuckled evilly as she ploughed through the army of enemy ponies, using her magic to make quick work of them and made her way closer towards their encampment.

“That’s as far as you go,” a voice called out, stopping Sweetie Belle suddenly. The voice belonged to a pony in a black cloak, with a familiar clasp in the shape of a spoon. “Today, Ponyville falls.”

“Wait, I know that voice… Silver Spoon?!”

“Yes. Silver Spoon.” Sweetie Belle looked over her shoulder to find Diamond Tiara approaching her from behind, Snips and Snails flanking either side and keeping her protected from incoming attacks. One ninja made it past their defences and attempted to strike at the pink mare, but was swiftly winded by a kick to his stomach from Diamond Tiara.

“I don’t get it. Why is Silver Spoon on the enemies’ side?”

“Her cousin is in town,” Diamond Tiara explained, “And she supports Detrot, so Silver has to play on that side for now.”

“Woohoo!” Everypony turned to the side where they found a pegasus mare wearing both glasses and a tiara flying across the battlefield. They were barely able to follow her as she kicked pony after pony to the ground whilst carrying something large on her back. The pegasus stopped and aimed her weapon at Ponyville, firing rocket after rocket at the terrified ponies guarding its entrance. “BOOOOM!”

“Sorry Di,” Silver Spoon said. “It’s just until Zippoorwhill goes back home.”

“There’s no excuse for traitorism,” Diamond Tiara said.

“‘Treachery’,” Sweetie Belle corrected.

“Whatever! Sweetie Belle, defeat her now! My treasury is on the line here!”

“You mean ‘our’ treasury, right?”

A moment of silence passed. “Sure.”

“Sorry, Sweetie Belle,” Silver Spoon said, “But I’m afraid I can’t let you do that. Today, I’ll show you how a real magician battles.”

“So it’s a battle of magic, is it?” Sweetie Belle asked with a grin. “Bring it on.”

“NO WAY!” Sweetie Belle shouted as she mashed keys and clicked her mouse furiously. “How did you- That’s not even possible! GET UP IDIOT! Stop stumbling about! Use the fraking ability you plothole!” Sweetie Belle groaned and clutched her mouse as she ground her teeth. “HAX! THAT’S HAX! YOU MOTHERF-”

Hot tea overflowed from Rarity’s cup and poured onto the table as she simply stared off into vacant space with eyes wide open. “… I shall just pretend that I heard nothing,” Rarity decided as she slowly placed her teapot down and reached for a cloth with her magic. “At least for now. I shall have to bring this up with mother and father later. Still, I am in shock! Where in the world could my dear sister have ever picked up such language?”

Magnum was sweating as he gripped the controller in his hooves, glaring at the TV screen that showed her had only one life left. “This time,” he muttered as he hit the start button. “This time, I will beat you!”

World 8-2 of Super Mareio Bros. started up and Magnum ran quickly to the right, dodging the first few obstacles eloquently and swiftly making it to the area filled with canons… only to mistime a jump and fall down a hole to his death.

The words ‘GAME OVER’ showed on his screen, showing that all of the stallion’s progress had been flushed down the drain.

“… FffffFFFFF-”

Author's Note

Check out the other submissions by various authours here: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2014/03/writers-training-ground-009-twilight.html

Prompt # 10 - The Journey Home (Mane 6, Sebreeze, OCs) [Random, Comedy, Adventure]

Prompt: Something went wrong, and now the Mane 6 are sealed on the other side of the portal! Somebreezie lets slip about an emergency exit, long forgotten...

“Something went horribly wrong! The portal’s closed behind us!” Twilight screamed, assessing her and her friends’ situation.

“We can see that, Twilight,” Rarity said. “Now do try to calm down. Panicking will not solve everything.”

“I beg to differ!” Twilight shouted. “But I suppose you’re right. I just have to think here… There has to be a way out of here…”

“There is,” Seabreeze said, gathering the group’s attention. “Yeah, there’s this emergency exit passage my grandpappy set up way back when, back in the days of our lord and saviour Tirek. Not many breezies still know of its existence, but I can take you there if you’d like.”

“That would be great!” Twilight exclaimed with cheer in her voice. “… Wait, what was that ‘lord and saviour’ thing again?”

“Right! This way, everybreezie!” Seabreeze led the way with the group of ponies-temporarily-turned-breezies following closely behind. They arrived at a large wooden, much too big for a breezie to open on their own. “We built this door to let our lord and his minions in back when he promised us eternal life. You should be find going through as ponies.”

“Uh, yeah… thanks,” Twilight said, casting the spell to turn herself and her friends back into ponies. “Well, I guess we should get going then…”

“Thank you again for all your help!” Seabreeze said. “May Tirek’s blessing reign upon you all!”

“Thanks!” Pinkie Pie replied. “I don’t know who this ‘Tirek’ is, but he sounds like somepony I wanna party with!”

“Well, let’s not outstay our welcome,” Twilight said nervously, grabbing Pinkie Pie and urging her and the rest of her friends to follow.

“Where exactly does this tunnel lead?” Applejack asked.

“I think it comes out in what you ponies refer to as the ‘Everfree Forest’,” Seabreeze answered. “It may be dangerous out there. Perhaps you should take this.” Seabreeze offered a crossbow tot eh group.

Rainbow Dash reached for it but was stopped by a slap from Twilight’s hoof. “We’ll be fine, but thank you anyway,” she said, opening the door and rushing everypony through it.

“Take care!” The door slammed shut behind Seabreeze via Twilight’s magic, and the six ponies were left on their own in a dank, dark tunnel.

“Well that was rude,” Rainbow Dash said with a flat stare.

“Look, I just felt uncomfortable around that guy,” Twilight said as her horn illuminated the area and she led the way. “It took forever to get those ‘Nightmare Policy’ cultists to leave me be, I don’t want to have to go through it again with these Tirek worshippers.”

“It sure is warm in here,” Fluttershy noticed as the group continued to walk further into the cave. “A little… too warm.”

“Yeah… it’s gettin’ pretty hot in here,” Applejack agreed, removing her hat and wiping the sweat from her brow.

The group entered a large cavern filled with lava and stopped abruptly. “Well… that solves that riddle.”

“There’s no safe way across,” Twilight said as she looked around the room. “Oh, please tell me we don’t have to go back.”

“Of course not!” The group yelped and jumped back as a large, bulky red minotaur emerged from the lava and landed before them, shaking the entire cavern as he stomped down and began flexing his muscles. “I am the Spirit of Fire! Fear me for I burn all within my path! Worship me for I bring warmth on a winter’s night! Answer my riddle, and you may pass!”

The Spirit of Fire blinked as he felt something touching his waist and looked down to find a towel being wrapped around himself in a blue magical aura. He looked back at the group to find six blushing mares awkwardly looking away from him, the white one’s horn alight with magic.

“Answer my riddle, and you may-”

“We heard you,” the six ponies deadpanned at the same time.

“So what’s this riddle already?” Rainbow Dash asked. “It’s kinda hot in here and we wanna get going.”

“VERY WELL!” the minotaur screamed, almost knocking the six mares off their hooves in doing so. “Then, hear my brilliant riddle and prepare to be stumped! I am hot, beautiful, and necessary for life, yet untamed I spread destruction and mayhem! What am I?!”

“Fire?” Fluttershy asked.

The Spirit of Fire gasped and took a step back. “Remarkable! Over ten thousand years I have posed that riddle to all that crossed my path, but none have ever solved its complexity and ingenuity!”

“How many others have come through here?” Twilight asked, genuine curiosity on her face.

“You are the first!” the Spirit of Fire declared.

Twilight slammed a hoof into her face. “… Well then, since we solves the riddle, can we please get going now?”

“Not so fast!” the Spirit of Fire declared. “Only one of you answered correctly! For you all to pass, you must each answer one of my brilliant riddles!”

“Great,” Rainbow Dash said. “Can’t I just fly over?”

“Not if you wish to be smited into the lava below,” the minotaur answered. “Now, riddle number two! I am ferocious, furious, and yet compelling to stare at! I am-”

“Wait,” Twilight interrupted, “Are all of the answers going to be ‘fire’?”

“… Yes,” the Spirit of Fire answered.

“Theeeen, can’t we just cross? I mean, we obviously all know what the answers will be now.”

“Would it kill ya to hang out with me for just a few seconds?” the minotaur asked with a sigh. “All I’ve had for company in the last ten thousand years are those breezies, and even they stopped showing up eight thousand, two hundred and eighty-three years ago.”

“Sorry to hear, but we really must get going.”

“I understand.” The Spirit of Fire raised a hand and snapped his fingers. A stone bridge appeared suddenly that stretched over the lava. “Fine, take care, I guess. Whatever,” the minotaur pouted, turning around and folding his arms.

The six mare pressed on across the stone bridge, but not before Pinkie Pie stopped to give the Spirit of Fire a hug and a flower headband. The minotaur smiled and put the ornament on. When the ponies left the room, he shattered his bridge and decided to return to his lava home. The flowers burned up as he descended into the lava and he cried.

The girls entered a large chamber with wind shooting out of vents sticking out of the ground. It was considerably more chilly than the previous chamber and each mare shivered simply from entering.

“I see you passed my brother’s challenge,” a feminine voice said. The girls looked forward to see a transparent pony without legs floating above the ground. “Welcome.”

“EEP!” Fluttershy screamed as she took refuge behind Rarity.

“Are you…a ghost?” Applejack asked with a gulp.

“Oh don’t be silly,” the mare said with a laugh. “I’m a spirit.”

“… Ain’t that kinda the same thing?”

“To be more precise, I am the Spirit of Wind,” the mare continued, ignoring Applejack’s second question. “If you wish to pass me, you must first prove your worth with a simple test.”

Twilight grinned and her eyes sparkled. “A test? Well then, I’m just the mare for the job!”

“This will be a test of courage,” the Spirit of Wind explained. “Only one of you may take this test.”

“If you’re looking for courage, I’m your mare!” Rainbow Dash proclaimed.

“To pass my test, you must approach my dear pet and stroke his fur.” The ground shook as something large and terrifying approached behind the Spirit of Wind. The group’s eyes all widened and the colours drained from their faces. “He is a wind demon, and he-”

“EEEEEEEEEEEEE!” Everypony cringed as the high-pitched noise threatened to destroy their eardrums. “HE’S SO CUUUUUTE!”

The Spirit of Wind gasped and ducked out of the way of the incoming yellow blur. She turned around to find Fluttershy petting the wind demon’s nose with a big smile on her face. “W-What-”

“Who’s a good boy? Who’s a good boy? You are!”

“… Okay, that was unexpected,” the Spirit of Wind admitted. “Nevertheless, a deal is a deal. You may all pass.”

“Wow. Guess we lucked out on that one,” Applejack said as she passed the transparent mare.

“Good thing it was a dragon,” Rainbow Dash said as she followed.

Rarity and Pinkie Pie were next, and finally Twilight, who grabbed Fluttershy’s tail with her magic and dragged her along.

“Just five more minutes! Pleeeeease?!”

“We have to keep moving,” Twilight said. “The sooner we get out of here, the better.”

“Yay! Visitors!” The six mares watched in complete bafflement as a brown-coated filly bounced around the room and stopped before them. “I haven’t visitors in like a gazillion years! Did you come to play with me?”

“N-Not really,” Twilight said. “We’re just passing by.”

“Oh, that’s fine too! But first, you gotta pass a challenge!”

“Imagine that,” Rarity said, rolling her eyes.

“So what, we gotta find some kinda treasure or something?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Nope! You just gotta beat me at hide-and-go-seek!” The filly giggled and turned around. “I’ll go hide, and you guys count to a hundred! No peeking!”

Twilight nodded to her friends and they all covered their eyes with their hooves as she counted out loud to one hundred. When she was done they all uncovered their eyes and looked around. It didn’t take long for all of them to hone in on the filly hiding beneath her cardboard box with eyeholes. “… We found you,” Twilight said.

The filly jumped out her box and chuckled. “Impressive. But now the real challenge begins!”

“You mean we’re not done yet?” Applejack asked. “But ah thought-”

“Now you guys hide, and I count to one hundred!” The filly turned around and started to count. “Oooone! Twooooo! Threeeeee!”

Twilight and her friends all exchanged looks and nodded to each other in silent agreement. The six of them trotted past the counting filly and continued down the tunnel.

“Alright, so we’ve dealt with fire, wind and earth,” Twilight recounted as she moved quickly through the tunnel, desperate to reach the end and return home to a nice, hot bath. “I’m going to take a wild shot in the dark and say that the next spirit is-”

“Water!” Rainbow Dash cried in joy as she pushed ahead of Twilight, submerging her head into the glistening pond that lay ahead of the group.

“Excuse me,” a voice called out. Twilight and her friends stopped and gasped at what they saw, whilst Rainbow Dash brought her head up and looked up at the one addressing her. “Would you please not drink my home?”

Twilight could hardly believe what she was seeing. She raised a hoof, pointed it forward, and shouted, “Trixie?!”

“Actually,” the blue mare said, “I am the Spirit of Water. I simply assume the form of your greatest desire when gazed upon. I should appear differently to your friends.”

“I see cake!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, drooling at the pile of delicious looking confectionery before her.

“It’s me in a Wonderbolts outfit!” Rainbow Dash said, squeeing at the sight before her eyes.

“I don’t see anything,” Fluttershy said. “I don’t think I have any desires. Or I lost my contacts earlier.”

“Jewels!” Rarity screamed, stars in her eyes. “So many lovely jewels! Oh, of all the things this is the best, possible THING!”

Rainbow Dash turned to Applejack with a grin. “Let me guess: an apple, right?”

Applejack frowned. “Ah resent these allegations that ah’m obsessed with apple jus’ ‘cause they’re on mah flank!”

“Then what do you see?” Rarity asked.

“… Bushel o’ apples,” Applejack grumbled.

“So how do we pass?” Twilight asked, eager to get whatever stupid challenge lay ahead of her over with.

“Hm? You just walk by me,” the Spirit of Water said.

“… That’s it? No riddle, no test of courage, no hide-and-go-seek… nothing?”

“Let me guess: my siblings have been making up challenges for you in order to pass?” The Spirit of Water laughed. “Yeah, they were just messing with you. You’re free to pass by whenever you want.”

Twilight groaned. “Fine, whatever. I don’t care. Let’s just get out of here already!”

“Somepony sure is crabby,” Rainbow Dash said before turning her attention back to herself ina Wonderbolts outfit and admiring what she saw. “Hey, just give me a few more minutes, would ya?”

Twilight grabbed Rainbow Dash’s ear with her magic and pulled her along. “Let’s. Go.”

“Owowowowow! Okay, okay, I’m comin’ already!”

Twilight slammed the door to her library open and stepped inside. “Finally. Home sweet home.” She walked over towards the nearest cushion and collapsed onto it, sighing at the relaxing feeling that it gave.

“Twilight, welcome back!” Spike greeted as he ran into the main room from the kitchen. “The princess sent a letter while you were gone! Looks like another big adventure for you guys!”

“… Spike?” Twilight called out, her horn lighting up. The scroll in Spike’s claw was ripped from his grasp by a purple aura and thrown into the fireplace, which was set alight by another purple aura. “Didn’t I tell you not to run? Now you destroyed the important letter from Princess Celestia. Oh well, guess we’ll just have give this one a miss.”

Spike scratched his head as he tried to comprehend what had just happened. “Uh, okay? Well, I do remember what was written on there, so-”

“Spike, there’s fifty bits on the counter. Go down to Sugarcube Corner and treat yourself.”

Spike gasped and jumped into the air, delighted. “Really?! Whoa, boy! Thanks, Twilight! You’re the best!” Spike ran out of the room and grabbed the money resting on the counter, returning to give Twilight a hug before rushing out of the library at top speed.

Twilight smiled and settled into her cushion, yawning as she let sleep overtake her. “Dear Princess Celestia… I sleepy time now…”

Author's Note

Yeeeeeah, so this one sort of just adopted a life of its own as I was writing it... I really had no idea where I was going with any of it, it just sort of flowed into... this (hence the random tag :P)

Check out the other submissions by various authours here: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2014/03/writers-training-ground-010-it-aint.html

Prompt #11 - Big Macintosh's Quest (Big Macintosh, OCs) [Random, Comedy, Adventure]

Prompt: Big Macintosh wishes chimeras were the only things he had to contend with on his delivery route. What he goes up against is far, far worse...

Big James Ryan Brandon Macintosh Jr. hated delivering pies to the elven-pony lands of Lostwood. His sister Applejack had to deal with a vicious chimers, smouldering fire geysers, toxic gases, nasty thorn bushes and a steep hill, sure, but Big Macintosh most certainly had it worse. He had to deal with… dragons. And princesses. And obnoxious little fairies that wouldn’t leave him alone until he rescued said princesses from said dragons!

“Hero, you must venture to the Keep of Lost Souls! There you will find Zardon, the Dragon of Lost Souls! This quest will be perilous, but you need not fear, for you are the chosen one!”

“Eenope.” Big Macintosh tried to walk around the little fairy, but as he anticipated, it simply moved to block him.

“Hero, please! Our princess is in grave peril!”

Big Macintosh rolled his eyes. It would be quite the detour, but it was the only way he’d get the little fairy to leave him alone. “Eeyup.”

“Oh, thank you, brave traveller! But you cannot defeat the dragon with you current arsenal.” Big Macintosh would have told the fairy that his delivery of pies were not ammunition for combat, but for some reason this strange land only allowed him to answer in ‘eeyup’ or ‘eenope’. Which made non-yes-or-no questions rather difficult to answer. Amusing, but difficult.

A map was given to Big Macintosh by the fairy and he studied it. “First, you must prove yourself by challenging the three dungeons marked on this map. Only then may you draw the Sword of A Thousand Truths from its altar and slay the beast Zardon. Time is short! You must make haste, hero!”

Big Macintosh wondered why he would have to prove himself when he was already selected in the first place. Or why one of the other Sword of A Thousand whatevers he had drawn on previous quests couldn’t be used for this one. Regardless, he knew that refusing would have been impossible, so he simply said, “Eeyup.” He then tucked the map away into his bag and took a turn towards the first dungeon.

“This wall seems too strong to break down,” the fairy said as Big Macintosh reached his first roadblock in the Dungeon of Skeletons. “We’ll have to find something to blast our way through.”

Big Macintosh considered the time and decided that he was already running late. “Eenope,” he said as he lined himself up with the wall, turned around, and gave a strong buck. The wall came crashing down and Big Macintosh pressed onwards.

“T-That works, too.”

After defeating an overgrown rat with a newly-received bow and arrow and claiming the first Proof of Heroism, Big Macintosh moved on towards the second dungeon, ignoring all of the creatures he passed on his way as they either tried to lure him into battle or ask him to lend a helping hoof.

He felt for some of the troubles these passerbys had, such as one whose leg was hurt and needed a lift to a town, or one who wanted Big Macintosh to investigate a suspicious individual who may or may not be bothering his sister, but he simply didn’t have the time to be distracted by such things. He was already on a tight enough schedule as it was, the last thing he needed was to do one thousand good deeds and end up missing his delivery.

Thankfully, the obnoxious little fairy – who had spent the majority of their walk to the second dungeon spewing the same catchphrases and lame jokes over and over again – only cared about him completing the primary quest, nothing more.

“You have done well to make it so far!” the boss of the second dungeon shouted as he towered over Big Macintosh with a toothy grin on his face. “It is too bad that your opponent is me! Prepare for your total annihilat-”

Big Macintosh simply stared up at the boss. His stare was calm and gentle, yet fierce and strong. “Y-You won’t look so brave when I’m through with you,” the boss said as he simply stared back into Big Macintosh’s eyes. “Y-You didn’t even claim the dungeon treasure, meaning you will be unable to even harm me!”

The boss gulped as Big Macintosh remained unfazed. The stallion took a step forward and the boss yelped. “N-Never mind! I… I actually have something I have to take care of! Later!” The boss fled quickly, leaving Big Macintosh and his fairy companion with an ungraded Proof of Heroism. Two down, one to go.

The third dungeon, the Gauntlet of Champions, was the inside of an active volcano, remodelled to be a labyrinth filled to the brim with traps and safety hazards. Big Macintosh had to stop at a nearby village in order to buy a refreshing hay smoothie with extra ice before he entered. He hadn’t a drink all day, and he wasn’t about to let dehydration be his untimely downfall.

Upon reaching the end of the labyrinth with only minor scrapes, Big Macintosh found a griffon guarding the final Proof of Heroism with rather sharp claws. “So you’re here! As expected of the son of Macintosh! But this is as far as you go! Prepare to die!”

Big Macintosh threw his empty cup into the trashcan beside him and took a calm step towards the griffon. “Eenope.”

“Hero! Hero! I have terrible news!” Big Macintosh sighed and turned towards his fairy companion. “It’s your cart, hero! Zardon’s minions have destroyed it!”

Big Macintosh’s eyes widened with horror. ‘WHAT?!’

“Ah, so it has been done.” The griffon chuckled. “That cart was the source of your power, wasn’t it? My spies had reported you taking extra good care of it, so I had them-” The griffon stopped as she saw a fire surrounding Big Macintosh. Not the good kind of fire that would reduce him to mere ashes. The bad kind. The kind that he would harness to turn her into mere ashes. “D-Don’t act so tough. With your cart gone, you’re-”

Big Macintosh growled and stomped his forehooves before charging towards the griffon, steam shooting from his nostrils. He kicked the griffon once and she fell down, losing consciousness immediately.

The fairy approached Big Macintosh slowly. “Hero?” Big Macintosh didn’t respond. He simply looked down at the ground with a grim look on his face. “Hero, please. I know you despair right now, but you must endure.” Big Macintosh still didn’t respond. “Zardon has almost claimed the Philosopher’s Stone. It is said that whoever claims the stone will have their wish granted. We must-”

Big Macintosh’s head shot up and a spark glinted from his eye. He turned towards the Proof of Heroism and approached it, snatching it violently before turning to leave the dungeon.

“Finally, after all these years. Finally, I have found it.” Zardon approached the Philosopher’s Stone, holding the screaming princess in one claw as he licked his lips and prepared to make his wish. Suddenly, he felt a presence behind him and found a stallion approaching him with a sword strapped to his side. “So, the Hero of the East is here to stop me, is he?”

Big Macintosh drew his sword and charged towards the dragon. “Fool!” Zardon shouted as he readied his claws. “I am the harbinger of darkness! The destroyer of kingdoms! I make ponies shudder at the mere thought of my presence, and I-” Before Zardon’s egotistical rant could finish, Big Macintosh sliced his head clean off with his sword and sheathed it. The princess gracefully fluttered down and bowed to her hero.

“Hero, I thanketh thee for thy help,” she said. “I hearby dubeth thee Sir Big James Ryan Brandon Macintosh Jr. Esquire. Now, as for thine reward-” The princess topped and tilted her head as she noticed Big Macintosh completely ignoring her and approaching the Philosopher’s Stone. “Hero? Dost thou not wish to receive thy reward?”

‘It’s just gonna be a kiss on the muzzle anyway,’ Big Macintosh thought as he reached out towards the Philosopher’s Stone and touched it. ‘Ah have bigger things planned.’

“Hero, no!” the fairy shouted in a pleading voice. “The power of the stone is too much for one pony to bear! It will corrupt you! It will-” A blinding flash of light filled the area. When everyone present could see again, Big Macintosh was strapped to a harness attached to his old pie cart. Silence reigned for a few seconds before Big Macintosh nodded his head once and walked by the fairy and princess.

Now that that little distraction was over, he could continue with his true quest.

“Welcome back, Big Mac!” Applejack greeted as she waved to her approaching brother. “Y’all will never believe the adventure we had today! How ‘bout you?” Applejack noticed the sword strapped to her brother’s side. “Same old same old?”

“Eeyup.”

Applejack sighed and unstrapped the sword, examining it for a second before throwing it into a nearby pile. “Might be worth a couple more trees. Come on inside. Ya must be hungry.”

“Eeyup.” Following his sister inside, Big Macintosh licked his lips in anticipation of some fresh apple fritters fresh from the oven. At least, if the pleasant scent reaching his nose was any indication.

Author's Note

Check out the other submissions by various authours here: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2014/03/writers-training-ground-011-somepony-to.html

Prompt #12 - Special Delivery (Maud Pie, Trixie Lulamoon) [Adventure, Comedy, Random]

Prompt: In Equestria, there's no such thing as a "simple" rock farmer.

Maud Pie didn’t like to use pickaxes, trowels or shovels. She didn’t like to use tools to force the rocks out of hiding. She felt bad for them, she could feel how scared they were. That’s why her preferred method was digging a small hole with her hoof and gently extracting the rocks that she uncovered. Sure, it was a slow method, but it also made the rocks feel safer, more secure. And a happy rock is a strong rock.

Besides, the extra hours meant nothing to Maud. She loved rocks, and she loved farming them. The more time she could spend around them, the better. The fresh air, the open dirt fields, the one or two trees, the rock-crabs scuttling about… it was the very image of heaven to Maud.

But of course, it wasn’t all fun-and-games. Rock farming was a serious profession, and it came with its hard responsibilities and dangerous tasks. Farming the rocks was simply stage one of the process, but stage 2 involved cleansing them.

Sometimes evil spirits or dark magic would be trapped inside a rock for many, many years, only to be uncovered later by the Pie family’s farmers. They would need to be taken to the top-secret cleansing facility beneath the Pie family’s house in order to be cleansed in a long, complex ritual, that needed to be performed perfectly lest the lives of all present be rendered to dust and the land of Equestria be exposed to threats the likes of which they’d never seen.

Thankfully there were no such rocks found thus far on that day, so our story does not revolve around that. What it does revolve around is stage 3 – the delivery. Which was still a dangerous and by all means a lengthy task.

In Canterlot, they have fancy airships and paid delivery ponies to get the job done. The Pie family does not. Well, two workers they hired from a nearby town, but for the most part they must make all of their deliveries themselves, which would sometimes take them to faraway lands, to unknown terrain, or even into the heart of a dragon’s nesting ground!

It was all very exciting.

Maud stopped her work when she saw her father approaching her. “Workin’ hard as usual I see,” he said. Maud noticed he was carrying a familiar-looking purple bag on his back.

“What’s that?” Maud asked in her trademark disinterested tone.

“Somethin’ we found while clearin’ out the guest room for a new worker. Seems our last one left it behind an’ I was hopin’ you wouldn’t mind runnin’ a lil’ errand.”

“You want me to return it to her?” Clyde nodded his head. “Okay. But where?”

“Last I heard she was spotted in Ponyville,” Clyde said as he unloaded the bag onto the ground before Maud. “Maybe you could drop by your sister’s new home and spend some time with her.”

“Sounds nice,” Maud said as she looked down at the bag. “Are you sure you don’t need me here?”

“We’ve been pullin’ in good profits this year. I think you can spare a day or two off. Just make sure you pick up the mace on your way out.”

“I will.” Clyde turned to leave as Maud reached down towards the bag and hoisted it onto her back. She then followed after her father, stopping when she reached the family house. Just inside the front door was an assortment of tools, armour and weapons for the family to use. Maud grabbed the mace and a vial of holy water and then left for the train station. ‘This bag is heavy. What could Trixie have in here? Didn’t she approach us with nothing?’

The train ride was as relaxing as always. For some reason, whenever Maud would enter a cabin, ponies would all move to the back, offering her plenty of free spaces to choose from and the chance to be alone with her thoughts.

Maud’s mace sat beneath her seat and the important delivery she had to her side as she watched the passing scenery outside of the window. A reflection of three stallions behind her caught her eyes and she turned around to see who they were.

“You’re a Pie, aren’t ya?” the middle stallion asked. “Off on a little errand to deliver some o’ your premium, high-quality rocks to some bigwig up in Manehatten?”

“I’m getting off at the Ponyville stop,” Maud replied. “And I’m not delivering any rocks today. Unless that’s what’s in the bag. In which case I am delivering rocks today.”

The stallion scowled and took a step closer. “Look missy, maybe you don’t get who we are. We’re the rock mafia. We own the rock market in all of Equestria, an’ we’re tired o’ you simple farmer-types down at that barren wasteland you call a home cuttin’ in our business.”

Maud’s eyebrow descended by an entire millimetre. “Our home isn’t a ‘barren wasteland’. Plants can grow there, but that interferes with our digging, so we just mow it really close.”

“Do I look like I care?” the stallion asked, reaching a hoof forward and grabbing Maud’s chin. “Here’s how it’s gonna work: you take this train back where ya came from an’ tell your father that he’d better clear out by nightfall. Him and his entire family. Capiche?”

“But I have a delivery to make,” Maud said simply.

“Don’t you get it? We don’t freakin’ care! You stupid-”

Maud detected the stallion’s increasing blood level and spotted his hoof rising in an aggressive manner. Before it could so much as move an entire inch Maud slipped out of the stallion’s hold and headbutted his gut, winding him and sending the stallion flying backwards.

The stallion to his left responded by throwing a kick towards Maud, who had vanished before his very eyes. “W-Where did she go?!”

“I’m here,” she told the two confused ponies as she karate chopped their shoulders from behind, knocking them both out. She walked past their unconscious bodies and took her seat, resuming her leisurely view of the outside of the train window. “I like trains,” she said to nopony in particular.

Upon her arrival in Ponyville, Maud found the town to be very different to how she remembered it being. There were strange lizard-like creatures crawling over town and hanging onto the walls of houses, and the residents were running around screaming in panic.

She stopped one of the screaming residents in her tracks – a green unicorn mare with a lyre for a cutie mark – to ask her for directions. “Have you seen a blue unicorn today?”

“Blue unicorn? Oh, yeah!” the mare excitedly said as she pointed towards a building just down the lizard-infested street. “She lives there! I think she’s free now, so you can just go on in.”

Maud looked over the town one more time. “Is this normal around here?”

The mare nodded. “Yeah, pretty much. We’re only panicking ‘cause it gives us something to do.”

“I see,” Maud said as she moved past the mare and into the street. “Thank you.”

“No porb!” the mare replied with a wave. She then cleared her throat, took a deep breath, and resumed her running around and screaming.

Maud ignored the lizards as she passed them by, save for the one that leapt towards her with malicious intent. She smacked that one in the face with her mace. As she reached the building indicated by the green unicorn, Maud raised a hoof and knocked on the door.

“Coming!” a voice called out from inside. An unfamiliar one. The door opened and Maud’s eyes widened by two centimetres as she beheld the blue unicorn mare on the other side with a toothpaste mane. “Hello. Can I help you?”

Maud calmed down and reverted to her normal look. “Oh. It seems I got the wrong pony. Sorry.”

“Oh.” The two stood in silence for a couple of seconds. “Well… can I still help you?”

“I’m looking for another blue unicorn called Trixie.”

The mare put a hoof to her chin. “Ah! I do believe I know who you’re referring to! Unfortunately, I can’t help you much there. Trixie passed through here some time ago and I can’t say I’ve seen or heard from her since then.”

“Do you know where she went?”

“I don’t, be she took the road leading to Baltimare, so-” That was all Maud needed to hear. She turned and left. “Ah, wait! That was months ago! She could be on the other side of Equestria by now!”

Maud didn’t care. She had a delivery to make, and she was going to- Maud quickly dodged to avoid the acid spat towards her.

She had a delivery to make, and she was going to make it!

“Ah, sure! I remember that chick!” the construction stallion said to Maud and her put his hoof to his chin in thought. “Let’s see now… I’m pretty sure she said somethin’ ‘bout headin’ up north. Maybe she was on her way to Horseshoe Bay? Mare looked like she could use a vacation, y’know?”

“Hey! Look out below!”

Maud nodded. “Thank you.” She turned around and walked away, the heavy girder falling above her stopping as she lifted a single hoof into the air. She threw the girder to the side and continued on her way.

“Oh, yes yes, I remember zees mare!” Maud didn’t know how she got roped into a full-on spa treatment at Horseshoe Bay, but at least now she was finally getting some information out of somepony. “Yes, she vas very demanding! Had a lot of tension in zose shoulders, let me tell you!”

“Where did she go?” Maud asked as the masseuse applied some pressure to her back.

“I believe she said she took ze train to Appleoosa! Silly girl wanted to go to Los Pegasus but took ze wrong train, jaa?” Maud, confused by just what dialect this pony was speaking, simply nodded in response. “So, how do you like ze spa treatment?”

“It’s adequate,” Maud said in a flat tone.

The massage ended promptly. Maud looked up to see the masseuse looking at the mare in horror, before turning around and running away with a foreleg over his eyes, a stream of tears following behind him. “I’M A FAILUUUUUUURE!”

“… I had better get a train to Appleoosa before it gets dark,” Maud said as she climbed off of the massage table and left the towels behind before leaving.

“The ‘Great ‘n’ Powerful’ Trixie?” Maud nodded in confirmation. “WOOWEE! Lemme tell ya, that was one dynamite gal!”

Maud shook her head. “Trixie carried around fireworks, not dynamite.”

“No, ah mean she was smokin’!”

“Trixie didn’t smoke, though I suppose she could have started.”

The stallion facehooved himself. “No, what ah mean was, she was attractive! Beautiful! Sexy! Amazing figure! Kinda mare ah wouldn’t mind bein’ trapped in barn wi-” The stallion stopped abruptly and twisted his face as if to hold in a scream.

“What were the two of you talking about, Braeburn dear?” a little buffalo said as she appeared from behind Braeburn.

“L-Lil’ Strongheart! W-We were jus’, uh… talkin’ ‘bout the sun?”

“We were talking about a mare who passed through here called Trixie,” Maud said. “It seems he has strong feelings of attraction towards her.”

“Oh, ‘sthat so?”

“N-Now ah was jus’ jokin’ around!” Braeburn said, sweating as he backed away from the angry buffalo. “Huh? What’s that, pa?! Ya need mah help pronto?! Well, y’all heard the man!” Braeburn took off quickly.

“Oh no you don’t!” Little Strongheart shouted as she gave chase, leaving Maud on her own.

“Oh. Maybe the train station saw her leave.” Maud would have slapped herself for not thinking of it sooner, but she didn’t want to hurt herself. That would have accomplished nothing.

After finding out that Trixie had taken a train to Los Pegasus, Maud followed suit and found that Trixie was staying at one of the hotels there. The hotel itself was confusing, though, and she somehow ended up in the casino portion instead of the lobby where she was planning on waiting for Trixie to pass her by.

As Maud attempted to find her way out of this strange place, she felt something beneath her hoof. Looking down, Maud found a bit on the floor. “Oh. Somepony dropped their money.” Maud picked the bit up and looked around. There was a pony sitting at one of the slots right beside where the bit was located. “Did you drop-”

“NOT NOW! I gotta concentrate!”

Maud dismissed the rude behaviour and decided to simply place the bit into one of the empty machines and give it a go. She had never tried gambling before, and she was curious as to what it was like. She pulled the lever and watched the dials spin.

7

7

7

Lights went off, bells rang, and silence fell around Maud for a second before bits shot out of the machine and ponies crowded around her.

“That was boring,” she said as she turned and forced her way through the crowd of ponies. “Entirely luck-based, not appealing to watch, and the prize is too big and impractical to carry around.”

When Maud finally reached the hotel lobby, she asked the receptionist about Trixie. Unfortunately, it seemed that she had just missed her. Trixie had left the hotel and was heading for the train station. When Maud caught up, the train to the Crystal Empire had already left, with Trixie onboard.

“I’ll just have to wait for the next train,” Maud said as she stood at the edge of the platform, waiting patiently for the next train to arrive…

A cold breeze passed over her. Maud turned around and walked towards the indoor café situated beside the platform.

The Crystal Empire was big, and it was made entirely of crystal. Crystal walls, crystal light, crystal snacks, crystal clouds, crystal crystals, and even crystals ponies. Maud liked it. It was clear from the five extra degrees her lips curved upwards as she walked through the city. Though that bugged her a little bit; why call a city an ‘empire’? That just made no sense.

After asking various citizens about Trixie, Maud finally got a definitive location of where the mare could be found. The crystal pony she was talking to pointed a hoof towards a nearby fruit stand. No, not the stand. The Crystal Palace behind the stand? No. The other side of the town? … The Crystal Mountains.

Maud would have sighed, but she didn’t like wasting air. She thanked the nice pony and continued on her way.

Harsh winds. Slippery hoofpath. Lower oxygen levels.

The only solace that Maud found in all of this was that she was surrounded by rocks. Rocks, minerals, crystals… and even a few fossils in the sides of the mountain, likely not having been extracted due to risks of an avalanche.

Maud finally found a nice, large cliffside with a sign signalling the end of the avalanche zone and decided to sit down for a second. And with the second over, Maud stood back up and continued of her way. She took one step before suddenly realising that the world was spinning.

Her vision was blurry, her legs were tangled, and she could feel blood rushing to her head. Fatigue at such a time? Maud couldn’t believe she let something like that happ- Where did the ground go?

Maud could feel herself falling down quickly and could do nothing but watch as the blurry mountain above her grew smaller and smaller… and then she stopped.

As Maud’s vision corrected itself once more, a blue hoof was in sight, grabbing her own. Maud lifted her free hoof to grab a hold of the one saving her and felt light all of a sudden. The magical aura around her answered that question. She was being lifted by magic.

After being placed down gently on the cliffside, the mare who had saved her simply gave Maud an arrogant grin and small chuckle. “So, even Miss Supermare herself has some weaknesses?”

Maud felt herself heating up, but thankfully her body knew better than to show its own embarrassment for the world to see. “Thank you.”

Trixie could see no signs of red on the mare’s coat, but there was something in her tone of voice that gave it away. “Could it be that you’re blushing right now?”

“I think you’re imagining things,” Maud replied before reaching the bag behind her and setting it down before Trixie. “I have a delivery for you.”

“Oh, is that Trixie’s old bag?” Trixie asked with a curious gaze.

“My father found it in the guest room at our house.”

Trixie blinked. “Ah… Well, this is awkward.” Trixie’s magic opened the bag and revealed what was stashed inside: rocks. Loads and loads of rocks. From valuable to just regular old pebbles. “Trixie was planning to sell these to the rock mafia, before she realised how well your father paid.”

“Oh.” Maud nodded. “Then yes. This is a situation I would call ‘awkward’.”

“Well, guess you came all this way for nothing…” Trixie reached into her cape and pulled out a small wand. “We can’t have that! Now let’s see here…” Trixie tapped the wand against Maud’s shoulder and it poofed into a bouquet of flowers.

“I don’t really like flowers. I like rocks.”

“One second.” Trixie threw the bouquet into the air… and it vanished. Suddenly and without any logical explanation. She then pointed a hoof to Maud’s side. Maud turned around and found that she was now standing in a bed of roses made out of rocks.

“Oh. Wow.” Maud raised her forehooves and clapped once.

Trixie grinned and bowed. “Yes, well, contain your enthusiasm,” she said, knowing from experience that a clap from Maud was the equivalent of an applause from anypony else.

“But one problem,” Maud said. “How will I take these back?”

“Uh… same way you brought them here?”

“But it’s your bag,” Maud pointed out.

Trixie waved a hoof dismissively. “Trixie does not need it anymore. Go ahead and keep a hold of it.”

Maud looked down at the bag, and then back up at Trixie. “Are you sure?”

“Positive! The Great and Powerful Trixie has so many bags, she doesn’t even know what to do with them! Why, she is practically swimming in bags!”

Maud gave the mare a deadpan stare for a few seconds. “You’re a little obsessed with bags.”

Trixie narrowed her brow. “Yeah. I’m obsessed.”

Maud reached into the bag of rocks and pulled one out. It was a pink geode that glistened in the sunlight. “Here. It’s for the bag.”

“Trixie said that you could just take it,” Trixie said.

“It’s not rock candy necklaces,” Maud said, “But we should still trade something before we part ways again.”

“Rock candy necklaces?” Trixie asked.

“It’s something my sister and I do whenever we meet. She said that I should do it with all of my friends from now on.” Maud pushed the rock towards Trixie. “Your bag for my geode will have to do for now.”

Trixie simply stared in wonder before looking down at the geode. “But is that okay? Doesn’t this belong to the Pie family?”

“It’s mine,” she said. “This one came from my own personal collection.”

“You can- Look who I’m talking to. Of course you could tell,” Trixie muttered as she took the geode. “Wait. Trixie took them all from the barn.”

“Of course,” Maud said. “I treat my personal collection of rocks special. Rocks don’t like being put on display. It makes them nervous. They also don’t like being separated from their friends or family.”

Trixie sighed but smiled regardless. “Well, whatever. Very well then. Trixie shall accept this gift from you, and she shall drop by the farm again at some point to collect this candy necklace of yours!”

“Oh. Okay.” Maud closed the bag and hoisted it back onto her back. She couldn’t help but notice the cut on Trixie’s leg. “You’re hurt.”

Trixie looked down and then suddenly remembered what she was doing earlier. “Ah… How good are you at running?”

“I got the fifty-sixth place at my school’s sporting events.”

“That’s-”

“Out of fifty-six students. Why do you ask?”

As if on cue, the ground shook violently as a loud thumping sound thundered above the two mares. “Have you ever accidentally stepped on a mountain spider’s egg whilst hiking before?” Maud shook her head before Trixie grabbed her hoof. “Well then, this will be new to you.”

Maud looked back as she heard another thunderous sound behind her to see a giant spider approaching the two mares with a very angry look on its face, just before Trixie jumped off the side of the cliff, pulling Maud with her.

Maud returned to the rock farm in the late evening, whilst Celestia was just getting ready to set the sun. She opened the front door and dropped off her things. The mace covered in green goo was placed beside the dirty dishes in the kitchen, the empty vial that had been used to blind the spider queen was placed on a shelf with other empty vials, and the bag of rocks was set down in the living room so that Maud could remember to sort them tomorrow.

“Welcome back,” Clyde said as he lowered his book and looked at Maud. Her face was cut, her dress was torn, there was a trail of blood down her mouth and she was covered in green goo that didn’t look very appetising. “Rough trip?”

“No worse than usual,” Maud replied. “I’m going to take a shower.”

“Don’t forget to exercise any evil you pick up so the rock spirits won’t come a’knockin’ at night.”

“I won’t,” Maud said as she grabbed the emblem of Terra, goddess of the earth pony tribe, and proceeded up the stairs chanting prayers of sanctity.

Author's Note

Well, nopony ever said being a rock farmer was easy. Hell, why d'you think Trixie took the job? It's more exciting than they let on! (Though the praying to an inferior race's deity for divine protection was what ultimately turned her off in the end)

Check out the other submissions by various authours here: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2014/03/writers-training-ground-012-maud-pie_21.html

Prompt #13 - The Case of the Abducted Scootaloo (CMC, Twist, Diamond Tiara) [Comedy, Random, Mystery]

Prompt: Fed up of being overshadowed by others, one pony takes matters a little too far.

“Role call!” Sweetie Belle declared as she prepared her clipboard and waited for Apple Bloom to be seated in the clubhouse. “Apple Bloom?”

“Here!”

Sweetie Belle ticked the name off. “Sweetie Belle? Here!” She ticked her own name off with a giggle. “Scootaloo?”

…

“Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle asked again, raising her head to look around the clubhouse. “Where is she?”

“Didn’t ya notice we’re the only two here?” Apple Bloom asked.

“I hadn’t done role call yet,” Sweetie Belle answered. “Scootaloo, if this is a joke you’d better stop now! I need to know if you’re here in case there’s a fire or something!”

“Ah don’t think it’s a joke,” Apple Bloom said. “Ah think she really isn’t here.”

“Then she leaves me no choice!” Sweetie Belle placed the lid back onto her pen, placed the pen down, reached down into the box beside her and pulled out a sticky in the shape of a frowning face. “Frowny face for those who don’t show up on time!”

“It’s not like Scootaloo ta be late like this,” Apple Bloom pointed out. “Maybe she’s sick?”

“Or she hurt herself?” Sweetie Belle suggested.

“Or she got her cutie mark and joined Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon an’ is gonna start makin’ fun of us blank flanks too?”

“… Nah, I don’t think that’s very likely,” Sweetie Belle said. “She wouldn’t hang out with those two. They both have cats and Scootaloo has allergies.”

“Oh yeah… Well ah feel like a right pleb for even thinkin’ such a thing.”

“A what now?”

Apple Bloom groaned. “Pip keeps talkin’ ta me at school an’ ah think it’s rubbin’ off on me.”

“Well, let’s just move on and check our Cutie Mark Crusader Detectives inbox while we wait for Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle suggested, picking up the cardboard box to her left and tipping it upside-down in front of her. A single piece of paper fluttered out. “… Holy cow, we actually got one?”

“Blimey,” Apple Bloom said as she picked up the letter. “Ah mean, wow! An actual case! That’s right top that is!”

“Who’s it from?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Let’s see here…”

Dear Cutie Mark Crusaders,

By now you’ve probably noticed that your friend Scootaloo is missing. I am the one behind that. I have foalnapped your friend and will soon strike again, unless you apologise and atone for your wrong-doings Apple Bloom!

I would reveal who I am, but since you guys are doing this whole detective thing, I’ll add an extra challenge: you must find out my identity for yourselves! Here’s a hint: what has four eyes, a sweet necklace, and is associated with cotton candy?

You have until curfew tonight! Good luck.

Apple Bloom gasped as she finished reading the note. “Mash an’ gravy, that’s terrible!”

“Time for food later! We have to save Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle said. “Now we have to think here… who could our culprit be?”

“Apparently somepony with four eyes,” Apple Bloom said. “You know anypony with four eyes?”

Sweetie Belle tapped her chin as she hummed in thought. “Not really, but I do know about ten ponies who wear necklaces.”

“The hoofwritin’ on this is pretty neat, but it’s written in crayon. Do we have any classmates that write this well?”

Sweetie Belle shrugged. “I don’t know. Ugh, this is hard! Who do we know who has four eyes, a necklace, neat hoofwriting and likes cotton candy?”

“… By Jove, ah’ve got it!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “The cotton candy doesn’t refer to a snack! It refers to the mane of our culprits closest friend!”

“Cotton candy mane?” Sweetie Belle asked, backing away with a worried look. “I-I swear I’m innocent!”

“Not you,” Apple Bloom deadpanned. “Ah’m talkin’ about Diamond Tiara.”

“… Ooooooh! Wait, then that means that-”

“That’s right! ‘Four eyes’ is a name used fer somepony with glasses, right? An’ Silver Spoon’s hoofwriting is always neat!”

“How d’you know that?”

“Because ah always have ta pass notes between those two,” Apple Bloom explained.

“You don’t have to.”

“But then ah’d be a dork.”

“… If you say so.”

“Anyway, Silver Spoon wears glasses, wears a necklace, and her best mate has a cotton candy mane!”

“And they have a motive!” Sweetie Belle added. “They’re mean and they… are really mean!”

Apple Bloom chuckled under her breath as she looked over the note. “Well, well, looks like the case is closed.” Silence passed over the two for a few seconds. “What do we do now?”

“Um… maybe we could go confront them?”

“Capital idea! Let’s go learn them two a lesson!”

“What now?” Silver Spoon asked as she stood at attention, waiting for instructions from her friend.

Diamond Tiara giggled as she held Silver Spoon’s glasses in her hoof, watching her friend standing just a few steps away from the edge of her pool. “Oh, turn left just a little bit,” she said, trying to hold back her laughter as she watched Silver Spoon turn away from the target area. “That’s it. Now-”

“Diamond Tiara!” Diamond jumped and turned around to find two fillies approaching her. She took a breath to calm down and then glared at the two intruders. “The jig is up!” Apple Bloom declared. “We’ve caught ya!”

“What’s going on?” Silver Spoon asked, looking around in every direction. “Di?”

“Uh, Apple Bloom?” Sweetie Belle said as she poked her friend. “Wrong pony.”

Apple Bloom recalled that their culprit was Silver Spoon and blushed. “Oh. Yeah.” She narrowed her eyes at Diamond Tiara and jabbed a hoof into her chest. “But you jus’ watch yerself. Ah’ve got mah eye on you.”

Diamond Tiara batted the hood away. “What are the two of you doing in my yard?!”

“Yer butler let us in,” Apple Bloom said, waving a hoof to the butler washing dishes through a nearby window.

“Oh, he is so getting a pay cut,” Diamond Tiara muttered angrily. “As for you two, get out of here! We’re busy!”

“Yeah, you two- Wait, two?” Silver Spoon asked. “Which two are we dealing with?”

“The marshmallow-head and the country bumpkin,” Diamond said. “… Wait, where’s your flightless pigeon? She stuck in some tree sap or something?”

“Don’t play innocent,” Sweetie Belle said. “We know that the two of you kidnapped her, now fess up!”

There was a moment of silence before the two accused fillies erupted with laughter, confusing the young detectives before them.

“Oh wow, that’s rich!” Diamond Tiara said as she wiped a tear from her eye. “Tell me: does it look like we’re holding somepony against their will?”

Apple Bloom looked around. “But… the note said-”

“Furthermore, what would we gain from doing that?”

“You, uh, don’t like us and… stuff,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Uh, yeah, but we can pick on you dweebs anytime we want, any way we want. And if we were going to foalnap one of you it wouldn’t be the one who could fight back or the one with freaky magic. We’d go for the one who’s easily fooled.”

“… Hey!” Apple Bloom cried after processing what was just said.

“So you really have nothing to do with this?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Like Di said, we’re innocent this time!” Silver Spoon answered. “Unless you opened your ninja inbox already.”

“Uh, not yet.”

“Then we’re still innocent for now.”

“Make a note ta take measures while opening that box later,” Apple Bloom whispered to Sweetie Belle. “Well, ah guess we’ll be goin’ now…”

The two fillies walked away from their two cleared suspects, with Sweetie Belle stopping for a moment to say, “By the way, Silver Spoon, playing close to the pool like that is dangerous.”

“Wait, what?” Silver Spoon slowly lifted her hoof and felt the area in front of her. Her hoof felt the edge of the pool and she turned to where Diamond’s voice was coming from. “DIAMOOOOOOND!”

As the fillies left the manor with sounds of rage and wails of apology behind them, they sighed and trotted dejectedly down the dirt path before them.

“What now?” Apple Bloom asked. “We’re outta suspects.”

“There has to be somepony out there who matches the description.”

“Even if there was, what grudge could somepony possibly hold against us?”

“Besides property damage, petty theft, public disturbance, endangering Ponyville on no less than three, four, five occasions, disturbing the classroom, stealing first place in the flag-bearing competition, being unbearably cute-”

“Okay, ah get it,” Apple Bloom said. “Bugger it all though, ah can’t think of anythin’.” Apple Bloom looked up to the sky, as if the clouds would hold any answers. “Glasses, a necklace, cotton candy, neat hoofwriting, crayon… UGH! Ah feel like ah know the answer, but ah just can’t picture it in mah head!”

Apple Bloom took a few steps forward before realising that her friend wasn’t following. She turned around to find that Sweetie Belle was no longer there, and in her place was a piece of paper.

Yeah, I’ve got to cut this short. My parents are having friends round so we have to wrap this up in about an hour or two.

I took your other friend, and they shall both suffer a fate worse than death at my hooves! If you wish to stop me, come to Sweet Delights at once! You have fifteen minutes. Come alone.

Apple Bloom crumpled the paper in her hooves and shook her hoof. “Sweet Delights… It can’t be.”

“It is…” Apple Bloom said in disbelief as she entered the culprit’s layer. It looked like an ordinary bedroom at first, only with a heavy emphasis on red-and-white-striped patterns. But inside, Apple Bloom found her two friends strapped to chairs, licking at lollipops in their free hooves, and the mastermind behind this whole case guarding the two fillies as she unleashed her maniacal laugh.

“Yeth. It ith I, Twist the Candy Crusher!”

“What a Twist!” Apple Bloom shouted. “It was you all along! Wait, you don’t wear a necklace.”

“I wore a candy necklace at school yesterday. I wore it all day just for that hint.”

“Oh… Wow, that’s dedication. But… why?”

“Don’t act you don’t know, Apple Bloom!” Twist said as she held her red cape up to cover the lower half of her face. “You and I, we were the bethest of friends, onthe upon a time. But that all changed when these two entered your life!”

“Twist, ah-”

“You forgot about me. You wanted nothing to do with me. You thpent all your time playing with these two and wouldn’t tho much as talk to me at school! I wath replaced, and the worst part of it, wath that I’m the one who convinced them to go to Diamond Tiara’s cute ceañera!”

The three fillies all gasped in unison. “Double twist!” Sweetie Belle cried.

“And a topping of delicious irony!” Scootaloo added. “… I’m using that word right, aren’t I?” Sweetie Belle nodded, earning a proud smile from the pegasus filly.

“That’s right!” Twist shouted. “It wath me who brought you three together, but in doing tho it seems I removed any thoughts of friendship towards me from your mind!”

Apple Bloom’s ears fell as she cast her gaze down at the floor. “A-Ah’m sorry, Twist. Ah didn’t mean ta-”

“The time for apologies hath patht.” Twist turned and approached the two fillies. “No longer will I stand in the shadowth of your new friendth. No longer will I be just the filly you only hung out with when there wath nopony else.”

“What are ya gonna go?” Apple Bloom asked.

“I will reverse the damage I have done.” Twist pulled out a big, plastic tub from behind Scootaloo. She opened it up to reveal a lot of ice-cream, and pulled a scooper from inside her cape. “My plan ith brilliant. I will give them such severe cathes of brain freeze that they forget who you once were! MWUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!”

“Y-You can’t!” Apple Bloom pleaded.

“You’ll know what it’th like to be abandoned by your friendth, and then I’ll be all you have left!”

“It won’t work!” Scootaloo shouted. “I refuse to eat!”

“Me, too!” Sweetie Belle chimed in.

“I accounted for that,” Twist said, scooping up some of the ice-cream and holding it in front of Scootaloo’s mouth. Scootaloo’s nose twitched as she caught a familiar scent. “That’th why I went to the trouble of learning your favourite flavours.”

“C-Chocolate?” Scootaloo’s mouth began to drool and opened up a little.

“Scootaloo, be strong!” Sweetie Belle souted.

“I… I don’t think I can…”

“Twist, stop!” Apple Bloom ran to her former friend and batted the scooper out of her hoof. She grabbed Twist’s shoulders and shook the filly back-and-forth. “This isn’t you! Ye’re not a bad filly, Twist! Ye’re always so nice, so sweet – no pun intended – an’ you would never try ta harm somepony like this!”

“That was the old me! The new me will go to any lengthth to reclaim what was thtolen from her!”

“If it’s mah friendship ya want, the ya just had ta ask!” Apple Bloom shouted. “Heck, we could go play in the park right now if ya wanna!”

“… We can?” Twist asked, receiving a nod from Apple Bloom. “Oh, well in that case, let’th go!” Twist removed her cape and threw it the side.

Apple Bloom sighed. “That’s great, you guys,” Scootaloo said. “NOW GET US OUT OF HERE!”

“Oh, right,” Twist said, approaching the knot behind Scootaloo’s chair and tugging at it. “… Uh… Oops.”

“Oops? I don’t like ‘oops’!” Scootaloo said in a panicking tone.

“Please tell me you can untie us,” Sweetie Belle sighed as she gave Twist a flat stare.

“Uh… Okay, just thtay put! I’m gonna go get my mum!”

“Hold on a few, love,” Apple Bloom said as she circled Sweetie Belle’s chair with a grin. “Ah do believe this is a chance ta earn ma cutie mark in hostage-rescuin’!”

“Ooh, thounds fun! What do you need?” Twist asked.

“Could you loan me a buzzsaw, or one of those fire-thingies ya use a facemask with?”

“A welding torch?”

“That’s the one. An’ the mask itself too would be top.”

Twist nodded. “I’ll be right back!”

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle simply sat as pale as ghosts as sweat ran down their bodies. “Scootaloo, you finished our Cutie Mark Crusaders will, right?”

Scootaloo gulped. “Yep. Nice knowin’ ya, Sweetie Belle.”

“Nice knowing you too, Scootaloo.”

“An’ with that, the case is closed,” Apple Bloom declared to nopony in particular as she stood tall with pride. “Insert closin’ credits ‘ere.”

Author's Note

Check out the other submissions by various authours here: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2014/03/writers-training-ground-013-for-whom_28.html

Prompt #14 - Magical Miracle Cure (Granny Smith) [Random, Comedy]

Prompt: Granny Smith should have read the side effects on the back of the tonic bottle.

Granny Smith was walking down the road from the farmhouse to Ponyville, just singing to herself whilst enjoying the warmth of the sun on her coat. She stopped to take a breather at a nearby bench, wiping the sweat from her brow and reaching into her bag for a bottle of Flim and Flam’s tonic. Miracle cure or not, that stuff was better than any cider she’d ever tasted.

Granny Smith’s stomach rumbled again. It had been doing that a lot lately and she was beginning to worry. “Maybe ah should see a doctor,” she mumbled to herself as she slowly pushed herself to her hooves. The rumbling started up again, along with some aches and pains that caused the elderly mare to fall to her knees.

“W-What’s happening? It feels like mah dern bones are meltin’…” Granny Smith tilted her head back and unleashed an ear-piercing scream as a blinding light filled the area.

When all was clear again, Granny Smith sat panting in the middle of the road, the pain having subsided but her lungs still begging for fresh oxygen. Wiping the sweat from her brow, Granny Smith slowly clambered to her still-shaking hooves. Deciding it best to check herself, Granny Smith held out one leg before her eyes.

“That’s funny. Was it always so long?” Granny Smith looked behind her shoulder to check her hindquarters, but her view was obstructed by something that made her gasp. A wing. A long, beautiful, green-feathered wing, with a second one on the other side of her body.

“Well ah’ll be! Ah’m a pegasus!” Granny Smith felt something weighing her head down and reached a forehoof up to find a horn protruding from her skull. “Not just a pegasus… Ah’m an alicorn!”

“ALICORN PARTY!” Pinkie Pie screamed as she swung by Granny Smith on a harness with fake wings and a party hat on her forehead.

“But how?” Granny Smith noticed the bottle of tonic on the ground and picked it up. There was a label on the side that she had not noticed before. “‘Warnin’: Side effects may include… alicornation.’? Well ah’ll be a son of a timberwolf!

“With mah newfound powers, ah can return to the superhero life ah’m sure ah had when ah was young! Or maybe that was culinary life…” Granny Smith rubbed a hoof against her chin in thought. “Nah. Pretty sure ah was a superhero at some point. Onward!” Granny Smith bolted into the air, leaving an apple of green apples behind her.

“HELLLLLLLLLP!”

Granny Smith looked down to find Rainbow Dash kicking about in quicksand. “Hold on, filly! Ah’m a-comin’!” Granny Smith zoomed down and grabbed Rainbow’s forehooves, pulling her out and setting her down gently onto nearby land.

“Oh, thank you, Granny Smith!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she hugged the elder mare. “How can I ever repay you?”

“No need. It’s a superhero’s duty, after all.”

Rainbow Dash turned around and extended her wings. “I’m going to go propose to your granddaughter now because we’re totally going out, not like it isn’t obvious!”

“You treat ‘er good now, y’hear?!” Granny Smith called out as Rainbow Dash flew away.

“HELLLLLLLLP!”

Granny Smith sighed. “A hero’s work is never done.” Granny Smith took to the air once more and flew towards the source of the cry for help. She found Diamond Tiara being held hostage by a diamond dog. “You let that filly go right now, ya filthy mutt!” Granny Smith dived down and kicked the dog in face, knocking him unconscious.

“Granny Smith! Thank you so much!” Diamond Tiara nuzzled Granny Smith’s leg affectionately.

“Aw, don’t mention it, little ‘un,” Granny Smith said as she patted the filly’s head. “Ah know Apple Bloom would have never forgiven me if anythin’ happened to her future bride.”

“I totally love your granddaughter and will happily share my family’s wealth when we’re married!” Diamond Tiara declared with a smile.

“HELLLLLLLLLP!”

“Ah gotta go now. Another pony needs me.” Granny Smith blasted through the air, using magic to drop apples to the ponies cheering below her. She landed before a purple earth pony mare with her hoof stuck in a cookie jar. “… Cheerilee,” Granny Smith greeted as she smashed the jar with her magic.

“Oh, thank you, Granny Smith!” Cheerilee bowed in appreciation. “By the way, I hope you’ll give your blessing as I marry your grandson.”

“Er, sure…” Granny Smith scratched the back of her head.

“I’m not good enough?” Cheerilee asked with a look of worry.

“Ah mean, ye’re a nice mare an’ all… but a teacher? Sure ain’t a future Wonderbolt or a rich stallion’s only child, that’s fer sure.” Cheerilee’s ears drooped as her head lowered. “Well, ah guess ya make ‘im happy, at least. Y’all take care now, y’hear?” Granny Smith flapped her wings and rose up into the air. Cheerilee waved up to the mare as she left.

“Ponies of Ponyville!” Granny Smith shouted as she reached the clouds. “Have no fear! Yer friendly neighbourhood apple farmer, is here ta look out fer and protect ya!” The crowds below cheered, and Granny Smith gave a proud smile as the scent of burning reached her nose. “Wait, wha’?”

Granny Smith turned her head to find one of her wings on fire. She looked at her other wing to see it joining in, and the following second they disappeared. With a scream, Granny Smith fell down, plummeting to her doom as the bottle of Flim and Flam’s tonic fell in front of her eyesight.

“‘Warning’: Alicornation is purely temporary. Avoid flyin’ too close ta the sun.’.” Granny Smith continued to scream as her impending doom drew closer and closer.

“It was yer tonic that did this!” Applejack exclaimed to the two brothers she had managed to track down and lure back with promises of hot apple pie. “She was find before she kept drinkin’ more an’ more of yer stupid tonic! Now fix this!”

“First of all, my dear Applejack, there is no direct proof that this is the result of our tonic!” Flim proclaimed with a dismissive stance.

“But you’re right,” Flam admitted with a similar stance. “Though in fairness, we did warn her.”

“When?” Flim took the bottle of tonic from Applejack’s hooves and pointed to the label on the back. “‘Warnin’: Side effects may include fatigue, deliriousness, an’ speakin’ in tongues if consumed in the bath or taken more than three times an hours. Avoid excessive use.’.” Applejack frowned at the proud grins that the brothers were giving her. “Well then it should’ve been in big, bold text!”

“Yes, but that would have cost extra,” Flim said. “All we needed was the label to avoid potential lawsuits.”

“Relax, my dear Applejack,” Flam said, putting a foreleg around the now-disgruntled-looking mare. “The side effects won’t last long. Perhaps a day or two, at the latest. Why not let the old mare take this chance to catch some ‘Z’s?”

Applejack batted the foreleg away and glared at the two brothers. “While she’s out, you two are takin’ over all her duties.”

“Now Miss Applejack, I hardly think that’s fair and-”

“Perhaps ah didn’t make myself clear,” Applejack said, grabbing Flam by the collar and pulling him closer, their heads almost colliding. “Mah granny is out cold ‘cause of yer product, so unless ya want everypony ta know ye’re here an’ come demandin’ a refund, y’all will take responsibility right now and take on all her chores ‘til she’s better. Understand?”

The two brothers, and Big Macintosh standing behind them, simply nodded their heads as looks of fear dominated their faces.

“Good,” Applejack said, releasing Flam and walking past the stallions. “Ah have ta go back to the orchard. You get to the kitchen an’ make a start on dinner,” she said to Flam, before turning to Flim, “An’ you stay here with Big Mac an’ watch over Granny Smith. Let me know right away if somethin’ bad happens. Got it?”

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh said with a salute.

As Applejack left, Flam leaned closer to his brother and whispered, “I think she likes me.”

Flim simply rolled his eyes as his grinning brother followed Applejack into the kitchen. He then turned his attention to Big Macintosh, who stared back with equal levels of awkwardness. “… So.”

“Eeyup.”

Flim turned to the kitchen door where Applejack was issuing orders to Flam. “Mares, huh?”

Big Macintosh nodded. “Eeyup.” The stallion sat down at a nearby armchair and reached behind its side, picking up two cans of apple cider before facing Flim again. “Y’want one?”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Flim said as he took one of the cans from Big Macintosh’s hoof with his magic and brought it towards himself. He sat down himself and opened the can, taking a long sip from it before releasing a pleasured sigh. “Eeyup.”

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh agreed, surprised that he was actually getting along with this stallion. Perhaps this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship…

Author's Note

Check out the other submissions by various authours here: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2014/04/writers-training-grounds-014-leap-of.html

Prompt #15 - I Spy... A MURDER! (Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Spike) [Random, Mystery]

Prompt: Thanks to her uncanny eye for detail on the wing, Rainbow Dash glimpses something she should never have seen.

Rainbow Dash was psyched. She had no idea she possessed such an awesome ability. To think, she could learn whilst she flew! Her least favourite thing with her most favourite thing! Passing her test into the Wonderbolts Reserves was just the start; Rainbow Dash had big plans for her newfound power. She was going to go far. She could see it now – Captain, no, General Rainbow Dash! Heck, why stop there? General-Doctor Rainbow Dash, Master of Science! Boy, would her mum be in for a shock!

But first, there was something else that she had to take care of. A little task that she just couldn’t possibly ignore…

Rainbow Dash had ordered Scootaloo to collect as much information on advanced magical theory as she could and set up signs along Rainbow’s morning route. She was going to surprise Twilight and relish the look of utter shock that the bookworm would surely give her.

“Okay, let’s see if I got this… Magic comes in all forms and is in every living thing, but a unicorn’s horn can tap into it directly using the magic nodes aligning the inside and controlling the energy by splitting the magic into its base elemental spectrum, thereby allowing the user to pick a particular magical element and shape it into a spell.”

Rainbow Dash squeed with excitement. “Magic wavelength is equal to the velocity of the magical energy over its frequency… This is so awesome! I don’t even know what I just said, but I totally remember it all! Magic falls under six types, those types are Twilight burying somepony in the woods, and-”

Rainbow Dash stopped herself. “Wait… Twilight burying somepony in the woods?” Rainbow gasped as the memory suddenly returned to her. As she was flying over Whitetail Woods, she quite clearly caught the sight of her friend Twilight Sparkle burying somepony in a hole in the ground.

“… Naaaah, couldn’t be!” Rainbow Dash said to herself with a nervous chuckle. “I mean, c’mon. Twilight, burying a body? That’d be like, Spike not wanting to eat gems. Twilight would never do something like that. Not unless somepony burned a book in front of her.” Rainbow Dash giggled at her little joke… and then felt uneasy. What if somepony did burn a book in front of Twilight? What then? Would that be enough to push Twilight over the line of insanity?

Scratching the back of her neck whilst biting her lip, Rainbow Dash looked outside of her window, in the direction of the Golden Oaks Library. “I’m sure I was just imagining things. Maybe it’d be best to ask Twilight before I jump to conclusions.”

Rainbow Dash flew out of her house and speeded towards the library. She landed on the balcony just outside of Twilight’s bedroom and peered inside. She found Twilight sitting at her desk, probably engaged with her usual studies… except that there weren’t piles and piles of books to either side of here.

“This is bad,” Twilight said as she held her head in her forehooves. “Oooh, this is very, very bad! What will I do if somepony finds out?”

“What?” Rainbow Dash whispered as she nudged the window open ever-so-slightly to better hear what Twilight was saying.

“No, it’s fine! I buried the evidence in a place where nopony will look.” Twilight nodded to herself before stopping suddenly. “But what about Spike?! He might tell somepony and then everypony will know what I did! I suppose I have no choice… I’ll just have to silence him.”

Rainbow gasped and then quickly clamped her hooves over her mouth. She took off into the air and perched herself on top of a tree branch. ‘S-Silence him? What did she mean by that?’

“I should also burn the other evidence, too. Just to be on the safe side,” Twilight said from within the library, her voice growing softer and the sounds of hoofsteps telling Rainbow Dash that she was on the move. The pegasus flew back down and found Twilight walking down the stairs. “I can’t afford to leave any loose ends. Who knows what Celestia would do to me if she knew what I did today?”

“What she did?” Rainbow asked herself with a gulp. She slowly pushed the window open further and crept inside, and then jumped as she heard hoofsteps drawing closer. Quickly, Rainbow Dash dove underneath Twilight’s bed just before the purple alicorn returned to her room.

“Almost forgot this,” Twilight said to herself as she picked something up off of her bed. “I’ll need this to create my alibi. No doubt an investigation into the missing report will be opened up very quickly.”

‘A missing report?’ Rainbow Dash thought to herself as she watched Twilight disappear down the stairs once more. ‘As in… like a missing pony?’

Rainbow Dash heard the door downstairs open. “Twilight, I’m home!”

“Spike? Can you come into the kitchen for a moment?” Rainbow’s fur stood on end. “I need to… talk to you about something…”

“N-No!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she crawled out from beneath the bed the bed and bolted down the stairs as quickly as possible, startling both Twilight and Spike. “Spike, don’t go! It’s a trap!”

“Rainbow Dash?!” Twilight asked in complete surprise. “What are you- Were you just in my bedroom?!”

“Yeah, and I heard what you said up there,” Rainbow Dash said, glaring at her friend. “You said you were gonna ‘silence’ Spike!”

Twilight bit her lip. “Y-You heard that?” Rainbow Dash nodded. “… Well then, I guess I’ll have to silence you, too.”

Rainbow gasped. “Y-You wouldn’t!”

“So… what do you want?”

“… Eh?”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Well I doubt you’d be interested in gems,” Twilight said, pointing a hoof towards Spike who was eating from a bowlful of gems in the corner of the room. “So what can I get you to stay quiet?”

“… O-Oh… That’s what you meant.” Rainbow Dash almost felt her cheeks burning up from embarrassment, before she reminded herself that that wasn’t the only issue to deal with. “B-But no! I’m sorry Twilight, but I just… I can’t pretend like I didn’t see anything, even if you are a friend!”

Twilight gave Rainbow Dash a pleading look. “Please, Rainbow Dash… I made a mistake, but I promise it will never happen again!”

“It doesn’t matter! I saw you bury that pony, that’s not something I can just ignore!”

“Please, Rainbow, I-” Twilight stopped. “Wait, you saw me do what now?”

“And I heard you talking about the missing pony report. Twilight, how could you? It doesn’t matter how many books they burned, that was still a living pony!”

“Rainbow, I… think you might have got the wrong idea. I didn’t bury anypony.”

“I saw you! You were burying a grey filly out in the Whitetail Woods!”

Twilight stared at her glaring friend with a look of disbelief. Suddenly, a flash of realisation passed through her mind. “Rainbow Dash, is this the filly you saw?” Twilight used her magic to pull out a small grey plush toy from a nearby table.

“… Oh. Yeeeeeah, that’s it.”

“I thought so,” Twilight said with a smile. “Smarty-pants was out there with me and fell into the hole while I was digging. That must have been what you saw.”

“I guess so… but then, what were burying out there?”

“My… report…” Twilight said with a look of guilt as she lowered her head. “Princess Celestia gave me an assignment to complete today, but I… I cheated on it…”

“You did? How?”

“Well, for this particular test I had to do it in the time allowed. Spike was timing me.” Spike gave a confirmatory nod. “He told me to put my pen down, but there was just one more thing I had to write down.”

“Okay… and then?”

Twilight gave Rainbow Dash a confused look. “What do you mean ‘and then’? I exceeded the time limit!” Twilight screamed as she grabbed her friend’s shoulders and shook them furiously. “I wrote an answer after I was told to put my pen down! I was given three hours, three! No five, or ten, or three and a bit. Just. Three!”

“I actually didn’t notice,” Spike said as he scratched his head. “Are you sure you went over the time?”

“Am I sure?!” Twilight asked Spike. “Of course I’m sure! Would I be freaking out like this if I wasn’t sure?!”

“Uh… I guess not…”

“I went over the time by an entire five seconds!”

“I don’t think it’s a big deal, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash assured her friend.

“NOT A BIG DEAL?! Rainbow Dash, if you keep a tornado going for five seconds longer than you were meant to, the destruction you cause could be catastrophic! If you turn five seconds too late, you could end up flying directly into a tree!”

“And if you keep writing for five seconds more on a test, you get like, what, one more mark?” Rainbow Dash asked with a grin. “Seriously Twilight, I don’t think the princess will mind if you just cross out the answer and explain it to her.”

“Y-You think so?” Twilight asked.

“Of course! Honesty’s the best policy and all that.”

Applejack let out an annoyed hum as she stopped peeling her apples and glared outside of the window beside her.

“Somethin’ wrong, sis?” Apple Bloom asked, noticing her sister’s annoyance.

“Ah dunno… Ah jus’ feel like somepony’s stealin’ mah thunder, again.”

“You know what? You’re right!” Twilight said with a confident smile. “Princess Celestia even forgave me that one time I was point five two seconds late to my afterschool class.”

“… You are such an egghead,” Rainbow Dash said with a sigh.

“Spike, could you do me one small favour?” Twilight asked.

Spike gulped down the gem in his mouth and gave Twilight and uncertain look. “Uh, I dunno… Does it involve a lot of work?”

“Please, Spike,” Twilight pleaded. “I still have so much work to do and you can dig so much faster than me.”

With a sigh, Spike climbed to his feet and placed his gems down. “Fine, fine. But you’d better remember this, ‘cause I’m totally gonna call in the favour someday, when I’m ready to make my move on Rarity.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and giggled as Spike left. “Well then,” Rainbow Dash said, “I guess that clears up that little misunderstanding.”

“I suppose I should thank you, Rainbow,” Twilight said. “If it wasn’t for you, I would have lied to the princess about my missing assignment.”

“Ah, don’t mention it. It’s all in day’s work for a superhero.” An idea crossed Rainbow’s mind and she grinned. “By the way, did you know that magic is, uh… T-The six types of magic have different properties that let them…” Twilight tilted her head as Rainbow Dash froze on the spot. “Oh! When you combine magic types it’s called a ‘polio-magical spell’!”

“You mean ‘polymagical spell’?”

“Oh… Right…” Rainbow Dash moved slowly and awkwardly towards the door. “Soooo… I guess I’ll just be leaving now.”

“Rainbow Dash?”

“Later!” Rainbow Dash zipped out of the door and slammed it shut behind her before any awkward conversation could begin. “Well, that could’ve gone better. I guess I just forget stuff like that after a while, huh?” With a sigh, Rainbow Dash fluttered slowly into the air and made her way towards home.

No easy sweep to general.

No doctorate in science.

And no stunning Twilight into science with sudden bursts of knowledge.

“Ah well. I didn’t wanna be an egghead anyway.”

Author's Note

Hey, just 'cause she has a crackin' eye for detail, don't make her no gumshoe.

Though I totally wouldn't be opposed to seeing Rainbow Dash being shrunk to filly size by some drug due to her investigating dangerous criminals...

Check out the other submissions by various authours here: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2014/04/writers-training-grounds-015-testing_12.html

Prompt #16 - Race for the Record (Gilda, Lightning Dust) [Comedy, Random]

Prompt: Two competitors from the Equestria Games qualifiers cross paths at the Rainbow Falls Trader Exchange. Oh yes: they remember each other.

The Rainbow Falls Trader Exchange was packed with ponies as usual. Ponies from every corner of Equestria galloped with their old, unneeded possessions in the hopes of finding that new one-of-a-kind comic book, or that antique vase with a unique design.

Of course, it wasn’t only ponies that gathered at the exchange. Gilda, a young, female griffon, was also browsing the wares at the exchange that day. She had with her something that was an extreme rarity in Equestria: baby griffon teeth. Her own, of course, from when she was just a young fledgling. Griffon teeth were an exotic item, used for making necklaces and furnishings, and griffons were all too willing to sell any teeth they lose for a high price. After all, it’s not like they had any need for their teeth once they lose them, right?

The only problem was that there was nothing these dweeby ponies had that Gilda wanted. What would she do with a new horseshoe? A crystal bowl just seemed impractical with how utterly fragile they were. And there was actually somepony trying to push their dusty old books on some poor sap?

Gilda stopped as she finally found a stall that seemed worth checking out. It was a stall full of records from various bands. Not just any records, but records that weren’t even made anymore! Records from bands that were huge when Gilda was still in flight school but somehow lost popularity with the more recent generation caught the griffon’s eyes. One record in particular got her attention. It was a limited edition copy of a greatest hits album by The Rockin’ Beats! Only fifty were ever released, and each one’s casing was signed by every member of the band!

Gilda grabbed it at the same time that somepony next to her did, too. Gilda turned to roar at the annoying pest, but was taken aback by who she saw. “Lightning?”

“Hey there, Gilda!” Lightning Dust greeted with that ever-so-confident grin of hers. “Long time!”

“It has! Haven’t seen you since that time at the Equestria Games qualifiers!”

“We both passed the five hundred meter flight qualifiers, but I totally beat you that time!”

Gilda scoffed. “Not even close! I beat you by so much I could’ve gone back to the start and beat you again!”

Lightning Dust chuckled as she felt a vein pop. “I think you’ll find that I left you in my dust.”

Gilda grinned as she grinded her teeth together. “You keep tellin’ yourself that, but I totally had you beat right from the start. Even your cheating didn’t change that.”

“Cheating? Look who’s talking. I’m surprised the judges didn’t kick you out.”

“I’m surprised the judges waited for ya to finish, though I guess they’re just used to slow flying from you ponies.”

“Excuse me,” the stall owner said to the two flyers whose faces were just a mere inch apart, “Are the two of you going to trade for something?”

Gilda and Lightning Dust moved back and presented the record they were both holding to the stall owner. “Yeah, I wanna trade for this,” they both said in unison.

The two looked at each other. “Hooves off. I got here first.”

Lightning Dust pulled at the record. “Once again, your sense of timing is way off. I was here before you even lifted a claw off of the ground!”

Gilda growled and pulled the record towards herself. “I let you delude yourself back during that race, but not here! I was here first and you know it!”

“Girls, you were both here at the same time,” the stall owner said.

“Nobody asked you!” the two flyers yelled in unison.

“Well then, what say we settle this once and for all?” Lightning Dust asked. “A race to determine which of us really is fastest? Winner gets to trade for this record.”

“Bring it,” Gilda challenged with a smirk. “Where we racin’ to?”

Lightning pointed a hoof down through the pathway between the stalls beside them. “We’ll race to the other end of the exchange, then back here. Think you can handle it?”

“I just hope you don’t strain yourself, relyin’ on those little pony wings of yours!” Putting the record down, the two turned and lowered themselves into flying stances. “On my mark then… GO!”

And they took off, creating a gust of wind so powerful that many nearby ponies had to hold onto their goods in order to keep them from flying away. Lightning Dust glanced at Gilda flying to her side and gasped. She was flying much faster than Lightning Dust had expected.

The surprised caused Lightning Dust to retract her wing for just a moment, but it was long enough to cause the pegasus to alter her course a bit and bump into Gilda’s side with some force, knocking her wing and causing her to spin out of control to the side.

“‘Trixie’s Magic Emporium’? Looks more like you’re just trying to sucker ponies into buying your old junk.” Vinyl Scratch lifted a box from the table and opened it up. “Your retainer? Really?”

“It has magical properties, as does everything else here,” Trixie argued as she took the box and closed it back up. “If you’re going to trade, then Trixie could always do with a new guitar.”

“Nah, think I’ll pass. I just came to- Uh…”

“What?” Trixie turned around to see what Vinyl Scratch was looking at just in time for something large and brown to crash into her stall, crushing her into the ground and destroying everything that was present.

“That dirty cheater… I’ll make her pay!” Gilda took off into the air, leaving the wounded unicorn to slowly rise to her hooves and look over the wreckage that was once her stall.

“… Well, that takes care of everything Trixie wanted to throw away,” Trixie declared, dusting herself off and straightening her hat. “Might as well go check out the other stalls now.”

With a shrug and her lead secured, Lightning Dust decided to take it easy and just enjoy the cool breeze passing through her mane. Looking down, she was amazed at just how many ponies were gathered at this one location. The variety of stalls was also impressive; everything from clothes, to appliances, to Discord lamps, to Gilda swooping up and punching her face-

“OOF!” Lightning Dust fall down fast as Gilda’s chuckles echoed through the air.

“What goes around comes around!” Gilda taunted as she took off, leaving Lightning Dust to her fate.

Diamond Tiara tapped her hoof impatiently, growling as she looked at the boxes filled with Diamond Tiara plushies that had still not been traded for. Meanwhile, her friend Silver Spoon beside her was already negotiating her fifth trade, and her plushies didn’t even come with a removable tiara or catchphrases reminding the buyer of how much better she is!

“Thank you, sir!” Silver Spoon cheered as she stashed away the nice-looking monocle with a golden trim she had just traded a Silver Spoon plushie for. “Have a nice day!”

“Silver Spoon, I order you to trade for six of my supply this instant,” Diamond said.

“But I’ve got nothing to trade with. Except for these.” Silver Spoon motioned to the piles of plushies all resembling herself, but Diamond Tiara didn’t seem interested.

“WAAAAAAAAAH!” The two fillies looked up and quickly dodged to the side as something came crashing down into their stall. As the dust settled, a disgruntled-looking pegasus emerged from the wreckage and glared up into the air. “Oh, it. Is. On!” The pegasus extended her wings and blasted off into the air, leaving a lightning trail behind herself.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon came out of hiding to check their stall. It appeared that Diamond’s stock was still in perfect condition, whilst Silver Spoon’s supply took the full brunt of the blow, being reduced to nothing more than stuffing and torn grey fabric.

“Ah, good. Now we can focus on the real star product here,” Diamond Tiara said with a grin as she got back into position.

Silver Spoon simply sighed and nodded her head. ‘Well, it was fun while it lasted.’

Lightning Dust managed to catch up to Gilda, who seemed rather pleased with her earlier action. “What the hell was that?!”

“It’s called payback!” Gilda shouted back. “If you’re gonna resort ta cheatin’, then so am I!”

“I didn’t cheat!” Lightning Dust protest, but Gilda seemed to pay her no mind. “Oh, well if that’s how you wanna play it!” Lightning Dust stopped for a second and prepared herself, leaning backwards in the air as she narrowed her eyes, locking her gaze on Gilda. With a strong push forward, she propelled through the air at supersonic speed, creating a loud shockwave that shook Gilda as she passed by and caused the griffon to fall once more.

Discord chuckled as another pony walked away dissatisfied. “Thanks for stopping by! Make sure to tell your friends!”

“Oh my,” a mare said as she stopped at Discord’s stall, admiring everything that the draconequus had on display. Jewellery, crystal chalices, fancy and funny hats, T-shirts, and a sack of bananas with Princess Celestia’s face plastered onto the front. “Such a lovely necklace,” the mare said, admiring a necklace that just demanded her to take it home. Literally.

“Take me home! Take me home!” the necklace cried out, startling the mare for just a second.

“Well, if you insist… I have this pack of trading cards I could trade for it!”

Discord held out a claw and shook his head. “Sorry, ma’am. I’m not trading any of this stuff.”

The mare raised an eyebrow at that. “Then… why are you here?”

“Good question! Why are any of us here? Are we the product of a higher being, dancing at His strings whilst being made to believe in a thing called free will? Or are we merely here simply by nothing more than a mere accident, simply living our lives to find our own purpose, our own reasons for being. By the way, I would step aside if I were you.”

The mare was confused, but took one step to the left anyway. Discord produced a mallet and closed one eye. As a large griffon fell towards his stall, the draconequus hit her back into the sky.

“THANK YOOOOOOOOOOOOU!”

“Now, about that trade.”

The mare jumped. “W-What? But you just said-”

“Sorry. Not. For. Sale.” The mare stuttered for a few seconds, before simply giving up and leaving. “Sheesh. Someponies just really can’t listen, can they?”

Lightning Dust laughed as she waved goodbye to her falling friend. “Smell ya later, slowpoke!” She was sure to win now. That record would be hers, no doubt about it.

“-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!”

“What’s that sound?” Lightning Dust asked herself as she turned back. She found Gilda rocketing towards her and yelped. “B-But how?!”

Gilda grabbed Lightning Dust’s tail and threw her towards the ground. “Better luck next time, Rainbow Cra- I mean, Lighting Crash! … Yeah, that doesn’t work as well.”

Coco Pommel beamed with pride. Her first trade went off without a hitch. She was so glad that she carried ten crates of clothes all made in a single week all the way from Manehatten to Rainbow Falls, missing many hours of sleep and a job opportunity with a very important fashion company. The friendly atmosphere here was just what she couldn’t find in the big city, and there were so many exotic goods to be found, like the fire ruby that she had just bartered with.

Yep. No doubt about it: all the sacrifices and hard work it took to get where she was was totally worth it.

CRASH!

Coco Pommel’s smile never fell, not even as a flaming pegasus jumped out of the rubble that was once her stall with a ferocious roar, flinging what little remained of her clothes everywhere, before taking off into the air at such a high speed that a lightning trail was left behind, setting the remained of her stock on fire.

As nearby ponies quickly rushed to extinguish the flames, only one thought passed through the mare’s head. ‘Yep. Still better than working for Suri.’

“GILDA!” Lightning Dust roared, flames in her eyes. She had had enough. This was no longer just about the record; she was going to crush Gilda, and if Gilda wanted to play dirty, then so be it!

Gilda zigzagged as Lightning Dust chased her, apparently confusing pegasi with alligators. “You’ll never beat me at that speed?!”

“Hey Gilda, is that Rainbow Dash down there, making out with another mare?!”

Gilda stopped and looked down immediately. “WHAT?! THAT LITTLE-” Gilda could see no sign of Rainbow Dash, and when she felt a large force to her back pushing her towards the ground, she realised that she had been duped.

“Thank you for visiting Geoff’s Farming and Mercantile Supplies,” the armoured stallion said as he waved goodbye to his customer. He turned around to place his recently acquired iron and gold pieces into a chest, only to find a unicorn in a kilt suddenly teleport into his stall. The stallion sighed, but a griffon suddenly crashed down onto the intruder before he could say anything.

The griffon picked herself up with a growl. “Can’t believe I fell for that!” she shouted as she ran and took off into the air.

The armoured stallion looked at the crippled remains of the downed cat burglar and shrugged, opening the chest and storing his profits from his latest transaction.

Cabbie was happily minding his own business, humming away blissfully as he pushed his cartload of cabbages down the road, looking for an empty spot to set up his stall. He stopped and grimaced as the sight of another cabbage seller entered his vision and he stepped forward to examine the wares.

A grin crossed his face. “Hah! These are the most pathetic cabbages I have ever seen! Ponies won’t trade anything for these, so long as I am still around!” A loud crash caused Cabbie to turn around quickly, allowing him to see his cart in shambles and his cabbages scattered everywhere and in many pieces. “MY CABBAGES!”

The pegasus responsible for crashing into his cart quickly took off into the air, and everypony around watched as she and a mysterious griffon continued to cause havoc and destruction down the Rainbow Falls Trader Exchange.

Gilda slammed a claw onto the record stall, startling the pony on the other side. As Gilda pulled herself up to her claws, huffing and heaving with her feathers in complete disarray, a cocky grin crossed her beak and she turned back to the pegasus stumbling towards her. “I… win…”

“Damnit…” Lightning Dust fell onto her face, too tired to remain standing any longer.

“Don’t… let it get to you…” Gilda chuckled softly. “Griffons are… better built for flying, after all…” Gilda turned her attention o the stall owner. “Now, about that record.”

“Oh, it’s you two,” the stall owner deadpanned before returning to her magazine. “Sorry, but I just traded the record away.”

Gilda and Lightning Dust both looked at the mare with shocked looks on their faces. “WHAT?!” Gilda shouted. “TO WHO?!”

The mare pointed to another mare just down the dirt path. It was an earth pony with a purple coat and three flowers with smiling faces for a cutie mark. “Finally,” the purple mare said with stars in her eyes, “I can share with my students the wonders of real music! No more of this ‘dubstep’ in the classroom!”

Gilda couldn’t believe her eyes. She was so close. She suffered so many injuries, endured so much, but it was all for naught. “Well,” she said, turning to Lightning Dust, “At least now we know who the faster flyer is.”

Lightning Dust huffed. “I was just off today. It doesn’t count ‘til it’s the real thing.” Lightning Dust grinned. “We’ll settle this at the Equestria Games, got it?”

Gilda grinned back and bumped her fist with the pony’s hoof. “You got it.”

“Hey, you two!” The two turned around to find an angry mob approaching them. The stallion leading them shouted, “You destroyed my stall! You’d better pay for all of that!”

“Mine, too!” another stallion added.

“And mine!” a mare chimed in.

Everypony in the mob was saying much the same thing, and Gilda and Lightning Dust simply smiled sheepishly as they back backed away. “You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?” Gilda asked.

Lightning Dust nodded. “I think so.”

“WING IT!” the two shouted as they took off together, heading in separate directions through the air. The angry mob split into two groups and each chased one of the culprits through the exchange.

“… Now that I think about, perhaps the griffon did grab the record first,” the mare said to herself, shrugging off the thought as she returned back to her magazine.

Author's Note

Check out the other submissions by various authours here: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2014/04/writers-training-grounds-018-trade-ya.html

Prompt #17 - Origin of Chaos (OC, Discord) [Tragedy]

Prompt: Another pony (not necessarily a unicorn) is somehow imbued with the Inspiration Manifestation spell. What happens?

This is the story of Entropy, a researcher who sought out new magic to use for the good of all ponykind. At only twenty years old, this unicorn possessed a brilliant mind that earned him the title of Master in Princess Celestia’s Royal Court Magi, and by the time he had turned thirty he had obtained the title of Overseer. Though this pony was well renowned throughout the growing land of Equestria, he had little time for friends, save for the two princesses whose attentions he had gathered from an early age.

One day, on the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration, Entropy was working late one night, attempting to decode the ancient writing found on a rusted, old treasure chest that was excavated from the land that would soon become the second-largest city in all of Equestria.

His assistants had already left, and Princess Luna requested he join her for the festivities, but Entropy politely declined. He was close to finally unravelling the mysteries of this ancient chest; he could feel it.

To whomever has found this chest, heed our warning thus:
Do not open. Leave the contents inside untouched.
If the wrong hands do posses this magic, a great calamity will arise,
For this was a magic not of this world – a great disaster in disguise.

“Finally,” Entropy said with a smile. “Finally, I have decoded the writing. Another prophecy of doomsday? Heh. If I had a shilling every time I saw one of these…”

Entropy disregarded the warning, chalking it up to mere superstition, or perhaps a trick to deter treasure hunter from plundering whatever may lie inside. Upon opening the chest, Entropy found but a single book resting inside. A book made of stone, no less. Surely, this must have been a relic most ancient, perhaps from a time before the segregation of the three tribes.

Entropy took the book and opened it. He was surprised to find that the writing was modern. “From in the head to out in the world, every thought to action. Hold close this book and through its spell, you'll start a chain reaction, projecting forth whatever beauty you see. Only when true words are spoken will you finally be set free.”

At first Entropy did not understand, but later that night something astonishing happened. Whilst sitting at home, reading his favourite book by candlelight, Entropy wanted to get a glass of water from his kitchen. As he made to get up, he found a glass of cool, fresh water sitting on the table to his left, where there had surely been no such thing earlier. That was when Entropy finally understood the meaning of the ancient tome he had uncovered earlier. It was a spell, one which allowed the user to create something from nothing.

The following morning, Entropy decided to test the limits of his newly-found powers. He started by repairing an old antique vase that his nephew had broke three months prior. The vase returned to its previous, un-shattered state, with not so much as a single scratch to indicate that it was once broken. However, the patterns on it were also different. Rather than a pattern depicting flames along the side, this new pattern was one of ice, similar to the pattern that Entropy had pictured in his head, thinking it would look much better.

Entropy then realised that not only could he create something, not only could he essentially turn back time on a certain object, but he could also change something that already existed. To prove this theory, he took out a random book and used his magic to change the hoofwritten text inside. The hoofwriting was undoubtedly the same, but the contents were altered.

Entropy had stumbled upon something amazing. What was more, he didn’t even feel tired from using the magic multiple times in a row. Without hesitance, he knew that he had to inform the princesses right away. With such magic, Equestria could enter a golden age of peace and prosperity. No more will poverty-stricken ponies be forced to fight for a decent meal. No longer will ponies without homes have to sleep out in the cold rain. The threats coming from the Everfree Forest would tremble at the might of an army that could be conjured up in only a minute. Disease would be a thing of the past. Even death seemed like it could be revered at that point.

Needless to say, Princess Celestia was sceptical of Entropy’s story at first. That is, until she found her royal tent in Canterlot had become a palace, in just one flash of light. With mere flicks of his horn, houses arose all over Canterlot, market stalls became live-in shops, and the magic crystals sitting outside the town had become ponies.

Princess Celestia was left speechless. Princess Luna was overjoyed. Entropy was glad to be of service, and the citizens of Equestria gathered to offer praise and tribute to their benevolent rulers.

Several days later, Entropy awoke to find himself in the hospital. He recalled that Princess Celestia, ever the paranoid mare, requested that Entropy hold off on his new-found magic until she was certain that it was safe. Of course, that wasn’t to say that he was strictly forbidden from casting any spells. But when Celestia finally decreed that he was free to use his magic for the greater good, Entropy’s excitement came out in full force. Perhaps it was a little too strong, as Entropy awoke with one leg missing and a concerned princess at his bedside.

According to Princess Celestia, Entropy had cast too many spells at once, not paying attention to what he was doing, one of the crystal trees he had created on an unstable foundation toppled over and crushed him. In order to free him, his legs had to be amputated.

Entropy was not concerned, though. After all, what was one leg to a pony with powers rivalling that of a god? Heck, he could just create his own leg to replace the one he had lost. A strong leg, like what the earth ponies possessed… In fact, why stop there? Why should it be a leg belonging to a pony? Entropy always did think that goats were pretty cool. They were his favourite animal.

Celestia gasped. In a flash of light, Entropy’s stump was gone, replaced with a thin, brown goat’s leg. Entropy seemed excited, whilst Celestia seemed disturbed. “Don’t worry,” Entropy said as he tested out his new leg. “It’s just an image change. I’m still me.”

Celestia remained unsure, but Entropy truly did seem to be alright, and happy, so she simply smiled and let the matter be. “Well then,” she began, “I must be leaving now. My sister and I have a lot of work ahead of us. You’ve been making a lot of changes around Equestria. You should give us all a chance to catch up.”

Entropy was upset, but he reluctantly agreed. He could see that ponies were still taking their time getting acquainted with their new home, and he had missed out on so much reading lately, so perhaps a break was in order.

Unfortunately, that though only lasted for one afternoon. Try as he might to set his mind elsewhere, Entropy could not ignore the itch that had started to bother him ever since he had returned to his home. Entropy was hardly a child. He didn’t have to always have a toy in his hand to play with lest he’d start fidgeting. However, this urge was driving him up the wall.

He had to use his power. He had to change something. He had to have some fun. But no. He couldn’t inconvenience anypony like that. He couldn’t just go around doing whatever he wished to other ponies or their possessions. It wasn’t right!

“Wait, I can’t do what I want to others… but to myself, I have free reign!”

Entropy decided that just one little alteration would be fine. He had always wondered what it would be like to fly, so perhaps a pair of wings, light-blue to match his coat…

The itch was relieved, but only for a moment. As Entropy fluttered in the air, examining himself in the mirror before him, he couldn’t help but feel that he could have done something more. An idea passed through his mind. He used his magic to turn one of his wings into a bat’s wing.

“Still not enough,” Entropy grumbled as he performed a flip in the air, the irritating itch really getting to him. “How about an eagle claw? I could see what it’s like to have talons… To hold something in appendages…” Entropy cast his spell once more, replacing his left foreleg with that of an eagle’s. “That feels nice…”

Entropy saw his appearance in the mirror and laughed. He looked ridiculous. He looked preposterous. He looked like something out of a children’s horror story. A freak. A wonderful, wonderful freak, who could become freakier still!

The next thing to change was Entropy’s other foreleg, become a lion’s leg instead. Only one more leg left. He was thinking something green… green like a lizard.

His horn wasn’t quite big enough. He could really make it stand out. ‘Goats have wonderful horns,’ he thought, and so he changed his plain old unicorn horn into a large, wonderful, blue goat’s horn.

“Oh yes! This is wonderful!” The itch was finally starting to leave him, but he was running out of body parts to change. Looking around, Entropy found that he still had an entire house that was his to alter as he wished.

Instead of a table with a small cake on it, why not a table that was a cake… with a small table on it, just for added effect! Entropy laughed at the silliness that he had created. Instead of a large, frilly bed that he would have to climb a flight of stairs to reach, why not just create a hammock right there in his living room? With an apple cider dispenser to its side!

The walls were too straight, and the paintings not crooked enough! Symmetry was everywhere, and his books were arranged alphabetically! Everything was neat, neat and boring! What purpose did order serve, what reason did he have for tidiness, when the whole world was at the tip of his new talons? He was free to do as he wished, to create what he wished! He had no reason to conform to the norms of society. He was society. He was the world! If anything, others should get used to his way of thinking, to his way of life!

Why should somepony with infinite power care what the world thinks of him? If he wanted to, he could change the world to be like him!

“Who says a pony only needs one horn?!” A single deer antler sprouted from Entropy’s head, beside the already-existing goat horn that was there. “This body isn’t nearly flexible enough! I want to move with as much freedom as I can! A snake! A snake’s body to show them all I am free!”

Flash after flash of light filled Entropy’s house. Entropy’s body changed quickly, new parts sprouting out and old parts changing shape, until soon only his head remained from his original body. Entropy admired his new form in the mirror and was quite pleased with the results. “Well well. I look pretty good. Though that colour is a little tacky…” Entropy snapped his talons. His old red mane was replaced with a long, white mane, resembling that of Starswirl the Bearded’s.

Entropy grinned. Now, he could barely even recognise himself. If not for his face, he would be a completely different being…

“A different being…”

He would no longer be Entropy, seeker of peace and order, and valued researcher to Princess Celestia.

“A new agenda…”

There was no longer any need to seek peace and order, for he could now see that chaos was the one true path. A world of fun and games, of ultimate freedom, where nothing was right, and nothing was wrong.

“I am…” The former-stallion snapped his talons one final time. The mirror reflected the new face that covered his old one. Brown fur, yellow eyes, large fang, and bushy, white eyebrows. “Discord.”

It was such a peaceful afternoon that nopony saw it coming. Pink cotton candy clouds in the sky, releasing chocolate rain, large houses being replaced with cardboard cut-outs, the floor being replaced with soap… even the sun and the moon were acting out of the Royal Sisters’ control.

Celestia and Luna both abandoned their duties immediately to head to the source of the calamity. The construction of Manehatten could wait. The first order of business for any princess was to protect her little ponies.

The two sisters could have never imagined what they saw. A being unlike any they had ever witnessed, yet so very familiar to them. So many different species, so many different body parts, all melded together to form the monstrosity floating in the air, laughing maniacally at the tortured ponies running around in a panic down below.

When he turned to face them, Celestia could almost see something in his eyes. She stepped forward, her legs shaking, and asked, “Are you Entropy?”

The creature grinned. “I am Discord,” he said with a bow. “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Your Highness.”

Celestia’s brow furrowed. That was not Entropy, and whatever reason she had for thinking so eluded her at that time. “Discord… we must have- neigh, we demand that you stop whatever foul magic it is that you are casting right now!”

“Oh, don’t be such a spoilsport.” Discord slithered between the two, draping one of his differing arms around each of them. “Come, let’s all have some fun, together. After all, life’s so short. You should enjoy it while you can.”

“Discord, I am warning you,” Celestia said as the being teleported back to his position, ignoring the alicorn in favour of orchestrating a collection of ponies whose coats had been drained of all of their colours. “DISCORD!”

“Hush now,” Discord shushed as he waved his talons and paw around. The ponies below him began to sing.

Celestia and Luna both exchanged glances and nodded. Together, they charged power into their horns and touched the tips together, aiming the collective magic towards the being.

A snap sounded through the air. Celestia could only blink. She couldn’t comprehend what was happening. That blast had been ready to fire just a moment ago, but then this creature had cancelled it out with but a mere snap of his talons!

Discord yawned and, with another snap, vanished from their sight.

“Sister,” Luna spoke up, looking up to her sister with worry.

“We have no choice,” Celestia said with a solemn look. “We shall have to… take the Elements of Harmony from the Everfree Forest.”

Well, if you had paid any attention in History class, then you should know the story from here. After collecting the legendary artefacts, the Elements of Harmony, from the Everfree Forest, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna combined their powers once more. This time, Discord was defeated. The beast was trapped supposedly forever inside of a stone prison.

Their kingdom return to normal, to the state that it was in before Discord’s mischief started… and before Entropy approached the princesses with his strange, new power.

Whilst Luna was still trying to make sense of what had happened, her older sister Celestia approached the spot where Discord’s throne had been sitting only moments ago.

Beside the petrified body of Discord, a single book lay there in the grass. A book made out of stone. A book that sent shivers down Celestia’s spine just from looking at it.

“Sister, ‘tis the book that Entropy was carrying,” Luna observed. Her sister merely nodded. “… Shall We dispose of it?”

“No.” Celestia reached out with her magic and brought the book towards herself. “I shall… see to this book’s fate myself.”

And so ends the tale Entropy. Or rather, his tale ended long ago. When he felt the itch to use his power, or when he replaced his old leg with that of a goat’s? Or maybe Entropy died the moment he ignored the warning on that old chest and opened it.

Regardless, Entropy’s story is over… but a new story is just starting.

Celestia placed down her quill and rolled up her parchment. She looked up to the stone statue standing tall and proud inside of her room. “Well then, I suppose we had better make our way towards Ponyville.” Celestia lifted the statue with her magic and carried it with her.

Waiting outside was a chariot with her personal bodyguards ready at the front. Another chariot sat alongside it, and she placed the statue of Discord inside of it.

Entropy’s story was over, but Discord’s story was just about to start.

Author's Note

Check out the other submissions by various authours here: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2014/05/writing-training-ground-inspiration.html

Prompt #18 - Equestria Games Junior Division (Alula, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, Zippoorwhill) [Comedy, Slice-of-Life]

Prompt: Describe another pony's Equestria Games experience. It can be any pony not shown competing in one of the events in the episode, and can include both the event they competed in and what happened before and after during their visit to the Crystal Empire.

Alula jumped for joy as the Crystal Empire drew closer and closer outside of the train’s window. In the next car down she could hear Rainbow Dash giving a speech and pressed her ear against the door to listen. Something about being awesome, and the Wonderbolts, and then about taking first place. She would have entered the car to hear more clearly, but Diamond Tiara insisted that they travel in her family’s private first class luxury car and that they must not mingle with the ‘inferior dullards’ unless it was to rub their luxurious travel arrangements in their faces.

Still, Alula got the gist of what Rainbow Dash was saying, anyway. Ponyville was going to prove itself this year by being number one at the Equestria Games, and Alula was more than ready to do her part!

“Ponyviiiiiiile, fight!” Alula called out, startling Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon who were well within earshot.

“YEAH!” Alula and Zippoorwhill cheered in unison.

“Do you mind?” Diamond Tiara asked, lifting the sleep mask from her face and glaring at the two energetic fillies bouncing up-and-down. “We’re trying to sleep here.”

“How could you possibly sleep on a day as exciting as this?!” Alula asked.

“Well considering you woke us up at five in the morning to get ready, it’s pretty easy,” Silver Spoon retorted, followed by an ungraceful yawn as she stretched her forelegs.

Alula blushed and giggled sheepishly. “Sorry ‘bout that, but this is just too awesome! I mean, only three children from every place in Equestria are able to compete in the Equestrian games and I’m one of them!”

“She’s gonna take the gold medal in jumping and Archer will take gold in running and then Snails will probably mess up the swimming but it won’t matter! ‘Cause we’ll have two gold medals and all of Equestria will see that Ponyville is super amazing!” Zippoorwhill circled around the train car a couple of times before coming to a stop beside Alula. “And it’ll all be thanks to you!”

Alula grinned and stood tall and proud. “If she wins,” Diamond Tiara said. “I mean, have you seen the competition?”

Alula and Zippoorwhill exchanged confused glances. “Uh… no?” Alula responded.

“They’re like, three years older than us!” Silver Spoon told her. “Some of them have even been to special training camps for this day!”

“What? Nopony told me that…”

Diamond Tiara noticed Alula’s smile turning to a look of worry and grinned. “Oh yeah. And they’ve also competed before, so they, like, know how the whole thing works.”

“They have?” Silver Spoon asked.

“Yeah, don’t you remember?” Diamond asked, turning to Silver Spoon and winking.

The grey filly realised what her friend was signalling and mirrored her sly grin. “Oh, of course I remember! And hey, aren’t they also, like, scholarship students at a sporting school?”

“Oh my gosh, I think you’re right!” Diamond turned to Alula, who by now was shaking on the spot. “Yeah, competition’s gonna be really tough! It’ll be hard enough to score bronze, but you can get the gold, right?”

Alula jumped and stammered for a bit. “Of course she can!” Zippoorwhill cheered, zipping into the air and banging her head on the train of the car. “Ow… I don’t like low rooves…”

“B-But the competition’s older than me, and they have more experience, so it won’t be easy,” Alula told the younger filly as she rubbed her head.

“Oh, don’t worry about that! I know you can beat ‘em!” Zippoorwhill rushed over to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon and gathered them together in a group hug. “So do you two, right?!”

“O-Of course!” Silver Spoon shouted as she struggled to break free. “No problem for somepony who’s practiced as much as you have, right?”

Diamond Tiara slipped out of Zippoorwhill’s grasp and fixed the crooked tiara on her head. “That’s right. Even if their training was much more intense and they’ve done this more times than you have, doesn’t mean you don’t have a shot. Remember, all of Ponyville thinks you can do it, too.”

“A-All of Ponyville…” Alula’s eyes shrank and she slowly stumbled backwards until she fell to her haunches onto one of the very comfortable velvet cushions just lying around inside the fancy train car. “Suddenly I don’t feel very good.”

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon both hoof bumped each other as they shared an evil laugh. Zippoorwhill joined them. “What’re we laughing about?” she asked.

“Figure it out,” Diamond said, leaving a quizzical Zippoorwhill to sit down and hold her head as her brain worked overtime, smoke eventually rising and setting off the emergency sprinkler systems in the car. “… Figure it out later,” Diamond said through gritted teeth as she moved her wet mane out of her eyes.

After the train had pulled into the station the four fillies got out and made their ways towards the stadium, Alula trotting slowly behind the group with her head down. Zippoorwhill noticed that Alula was moving slowly. “C’mon, let’s pick up the pace!” she said, hovering above Alula and looking down on the filly with at first a smile, but then a worried frown as Alula stopped in her path. “What’s wrong?”

“We’d better hurry,” Silver Spoon said, stopping with Diamond Tiara to turn and face the two fillies behind them. “The opening ceremony will be starting soo- Is that a statue of Princess Twilight’s dragon butler?”

Alula felt her legs shaking and her heart racing. Her breathing became rapid and she began to sweat. “I can’t do it,” she whispered.

“Huh?” Zippoorwhill put a hoof to her ear. “What d’you say? You need to speak up.”

“I can’t do it,” Alula said, lifting her head suddenly and showing her panicked expression to her three friends, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.

“Can’t do it? You mean the race?” Silver Spoon asked. She and Diamond Tiara exchanged nervous looks before approaching Alula. “But you’ve been practicing for so long, and you’ve already signed up.”

“Yeah,” Diamond said. “It’s a little late to be getting cold hooves now. You should have done that before waking us up at five in the morning and making us wait four hours for the train to the Crystal Empire.” Silver Spoon nudged Diamond’s side with her knee. “What? I’m just saying.”

“But there’s no way I can win!” Alula shouted, startling the other fillies. “The other foals are all older and so much better than me! You said it yourself that bronze alone would be hard. I can’t go out there with so many ponies watching me when I have no chance of winning!”

Diamond Tiara bit her lip. “Oooh, right… Uh, about that-”

“I’d never be able to show my face around Ponyville again!”

“I don’t think it’d be that bad,” Silver Spoon said. “Besides-”

“Like you said, all of Ponyville will be counting on me, Archer and Snails to win! I can’t let them all down like that! What if my parents are disappointed and they never let me high jump again? What if Miss Cheerilee expels me from school?!”

“You’re overreacting!” Silver Spoon said, putting a hoof around Alula’s neck as the filly hyperventilated. “Besides, it’s not quite what you think. We-”

“Nopony will be mad at you if you lose!” Zippoorwhill said, landing on the ground and placing both of her forehooves on Alula’s shoulders, staring into the other filly’s eyes with a strong, confident gaze. “Just do your best and everypony’ll be okay with whatever you place! And besides, we know you’ll do well, right guys?!”

“Uh, yeah,” Diamond Tiara said with a smile and a nod. “Totally. You’re like, the best high jumper I know.” ‘And the only one.’

Alula seemed to calm down for a moment, but only for a moment as she suddenly gasped and took a step back. Her friends turned around to see a taller colt standing behind them, grinning with his two friends flanking his sides.

“So you’re my competition from Ponyville! Heh, what’s the matter? They couldn’t find a real athlete so they just sent a buncha babies?”

Diamond Tiara scowled and approached the colt. “What’s it to you?”

“I’m the one representing Manehatten in the jump-related events, and I couldn’t help but overhear you all talking just now. She’s right, y’know? All of her opponents this year are at least three years older than her. There’s no way she’ll win. She’ll be going back home a total zero!”

Alula’s breathing picked up again. “A-A zero?”

“That’s right. A loser. Last place. No medal, not even a pat on the back! Face it, you’re better off just boarding that train and going home, before you embarrass yourself!”

Alula sniffed as her tears spilled from her eyes and she quickly turned tail to flee. “Alula, wait!” Silver Spoon shouted, but it was no use. She turned to the three colts and gave them her best glare. “What would you know?! She’s been practising so hard she sleeps through class, and unlike you, she doesn’t have to resort to scaring the competition just to win!”

“Heh. Like I’d do anything so low. I was just saving her some embarrassment. Really, there’s no point in Ponyville even showing up, if you ask me.”

“And what makes you think we’re from Ponyville?” Diamond Tiara asked.

“It’s obvious. You all look like country losers, and that cheap, tacky jewellery isn’t foolin’ anypony.” The colt reached out a hoof and flicked Diamond’s tiara off of her head.

“HEY! PICK THAT UP!” Diamond demanded, her face turning red.

“As if! You want it, pick it up yourself!”

Diamond grumbled, but turned around and crouched to pick up her tiara. She felt something kicking her rear from behind and found herself face down on the ground.

“Diamond!” Silver Spoon ran to her friend’s side and helped her to her hooves. “You jerks! What, you too afraid to pick on somepony your own size?”

“Nah, it’s just more fun to put losers in their place,” the colt said, taking a step forward, but stopping when Zippoorwhill jumped in front of him. “W-What d’you want?”

Zippoorwhill crouched down into an offensive stand and growled, confusing the three colts. She then barked, loudly and viciously, and continued to bark at the colts, drawing the attention of the ponies around them.

“What’s her problem?! Crazy fillies!”

Zippoorwhill stopped barking and leapt forward, knocking the colt down backwards and pinning him to the ground, where the colt let out a pained cry. She then jumped off of him and ran back to her friends. “Let’s go find Alula!”

“What, and just let them get away with-” Diamond Tiara began, but was cut off by Silver Spoon.

“We need to find Alula and make sure she’s okay. Besides… we also need to tell her the truth.”

“Truth?” Zippoorwhill asked.

Diamond looked between her two friends for a moment, before sighing and placing her tiara back onto her head. “Fiiiiine. I think I saw her run towards the stadium.”

The three fillies took off, leaving the three angry colts behind them yelling angrily that they had better run away.

Zippoorwhill purred as she walked alongside Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon through the interior of the stadium, following an older mare’s lead that the filly they were seeking had ran into a restroom some time ago.

“I thought you were a dog,” Diamond Tiara said, raising an eyebrow as Zippoorwhill brushed up against Silver Spoon.

“She phases between animals every now-and-then,” Silver Spoon explained, trying to avoid the filly but failing horribly. “Is this it?” she asked as they arrived at a restroom.

“Yeah, this is it. It’s the first one we’ve passed in here and I’m pretty sure I didn’t miss any.” The three walked inside. It was thankfully empty, save for the echoed sniffles coming from one of the stalls. Silver Spoon nudged Diamond, prompting her to call out to their friend. “Alula?”

The sniffling stopped and all was silent for a couple of seconds. “I’m sorry…”

Diamond Tiara narrowed her eyes. “What?” she deadpanned.

“F-For running off like that and… I-I’m sorr-”

“Stop apologising!” Diamond kicked the door open, startling Alula. “… Oh. I thought it was locked.”

“U-Um…”

“Anyway, why are you apologising when it was those jerks that said all that stuff about you?!”

“I-”

“How stupid do you have to be to let some colt from Manehatten get under your skin like that?!”

“But-”

“And don’t tell me you actually believed the stuff that he said, because that would just be-”

“Diamond,” Silver Spoon interrupted, placing a hoof on Diamond’s shoulder to calm her friend down. Diamond Tiara looked back to her for a second and Silver Spoon motioned to Alula.

Diamond cleared her throat and turned back to Alula, only briefly though, before turning to face the wall of the stall. “Anyway, about that stuff we said earlier… about how you probably wouldn’t do good against your competition… We kinda… made up some of it…”

Alula gave Diamond a confused look. “You did?”

“A little more than ‘some’,” Silver Spoon corrected. Diamond blushed and glared at the wall, refusing to face Alula and admit the truth. “Your competition will be older than you, but they’re not as good as we made them out to be. We were just having a little fun… and we’re sorry. Aren’t we, Diamond?”

“Yeah…” Diamond slowly turned her eyes to look at Alula, found that the filly was looking back and quickly turned around to leave. “Anyway, now you know, so can you stop sitting here crying and let’s go sign up already?”

“But,” Alula said, “… I think you were right. I mean, you saw how big that colt was. There’s no way I can beat him.”

“Are you kidding me?!” Diamond shouted. “After you practiced so much, and we came all this way, you’re not even gonna try?!”

“I’m sorry…”

Diamond Tiara’s eye twitched and her teeth ground together. She felt a hoof on her shoulder and turned to Silver Spoon. “Let me try something,” she whispered. Diamond was more than happy to let Silver Spoon take over. Silver Spoon leaned down beside Alula and whispered into her ear, “You know, that colt from before didn’t just pick on you. He picked on Di, too.”

“He did?” Alula asked, her ears shooting straight up.

“Oh yeah. And he got her tiara and her face all dirty.”

Alula gasped, and then her face suddenly turned to a look of rage. “… Is that so?” Alula approached a confused and somewhat frightened Diamond Tiara with a determined look now on her face. Nopony would ever be able to tell that she had just been weeping silently to herself in a restroom stall. “… I’ll compete. And I’ll kick that dumb colt’s butt to next Tuesday!”

“Yeah! You go, Alula!” Zippoorwhill cheered in a cheerleader outfit as she danced in the background. “Show them what Ponyville fillies are made of!”

“I’d better get going!” Alula said as she rushed past her friends, stopping for a brief moment to look back and say, “Make sure you cheer me on, you guys!”

“We will!” Silver Spoon told her, shooting Diamond Tiara a grin as the pink filly returned it with a flat stare.

“Okay, what did you say to her?” Diamond asked.

“Hmmm… I think I’ll just keep that secret,” Silver Spoon replied, walking past Diamond Tiara with her head held high. “Let’s go find our seats before her events start.”

“Here’s to Alula, winner of the Equestria Games Junior Division Jumping Events’ silver medal!”

Alula blushed as her friends all raised their glasses and bonked them together with her own. “Thanks, Zip. But really, I couldn’t have done it without you guys.”

“Too bad it wasn’t gold,” Diamond Tiara said with a grin.

Alula closed her eyes and smiled dreamily. “No, but so long as I avenged your honour, that’s reward enough for me.”

Diamond raised an eyebrow. “Uh, translation?” she asked Silver Spoon.

“She means how she beat that colt from before,” Silver Spoon explained.

“Ah…” Diamond picked up a crystal doughnut and took a bite. “Hey, these are pretty good.”

“I heard the Crystal Joes is one of the best diners in the whole Crystal Empire,” Alula said as she also picked up a doughnut. “Even if I only won silver, I’m glad I could celebrate it with all you guys.”

Diamond groaned as she picked up her glass of coke. “Why do you have to sound like such a huge dork all the time?”

Alula simply giggled, whilst Zippoorwhill stared at Silver Spoon, who seemed to be pondering something, and asked, “Hey, whatcha thinkin’ about, Sil-Sil?”

“Hm? Oh, I was just wondering… where are our parents?”

Author's Note

Check out the other submissions by various authours here: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2014/05/writers-training-grounds-19-equestria_13.html

Prompt #19 - One Step at a Time (OC, Maud Pie, Igneous Rock) [Random, Comedy, Romance]

Prompt: Tirek wasn't the only creature to escape from Tartarus when Cerberus left his post...

It had taken a long time. Nearly one full year since she had escaped together with Tirek, when that foolish mutt Cerberus had left his post at the gates of Tartarus, and now, her powers were finally recovered to a level where she could begin her plans to take over Equestria. And this time, that foolish Princess Platinum would not stand in her way!

“Princess ‘Celestia’? Who in the hoof is that?” Medusa scratched the back of her head, but then simply shrugged and tossed the poster to the side. “I guess it has been some time. It’s only to be expected that the one in charge has changed. Perhaps I should start small. Build a following and gather some information before I make any big moves.”

Medusa left the small cave that she had been residing in for several months now and proceeded down the road, her image concealed by a dark cloak and a purple mask covering her face. She had separated from Tirek when the two had broken out, and only recently had she heard any news about him. In that he had almost succeeded in conquering Equestria. Some kind of Rainbow stopped him though, which concerned Medusa moreso; Equestria had some kind of defence that could stop someone as powerful as Tirek, meaning that she would have to be very careful.

Medusa stopped as a small house entered her field of vision. Around the house was a wide, rock-filled wasteland, with a few ponies out picking at the rocks on the ground. “Ah, a rock farm. Glad to see that some things just don’t change.” A grin crossed Medusa’s face. This place was quiet, empty, and out of the way. Not a bad place to set up a temporary safe house and a base of operations. “I wonder what the rent for that place is? I guess I’ll just have to ‘negotiate’ with those ponies down there.”

Maud Pie was busy spending her day as most others: breaking bigger rocks into smaller rocks and loading them into the cart behind them so that they could be shipped off to whomever had a need for twenty tons of crushed rocks. Life sure was bliss.

“Greetings, citizen.” Maud looked up from her demanding workload to find a cloaked figure wearing a mask approaching her. “I seek whomever own this land. Are you she?”

“My father owns this farm,” Maud responded. “He’s busy checking our finances at the moment.”

“Well then, perhaps you could be a good girl and tell him to come out and meet with me?”

“I told you, he’s busy-” A knife sailed past Maud’s head, scratching the side of her face and causing it to bleed lightly. “I’ll go get him for you.” Gently lowering her pick to the ground, Maud Pie turned around and casually walked towards the house. She returned moments later with her father.

“What’s all the commotion out here?” Igneous Rock asked. “My daughter says you threatened her to come fetch me.”

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Lady Medusa, and I am here to talk to you about acquiring your property.”

“Now look here, Missy. This here farm’s been in our family for generations, an’ we aren’t about to sell it now, so I’m sorry, but y’all will just have to find some new plot of land to call yer own.”

Medusa simply chuckled at the stallion’s response. “Oh, did I say I was buying it? Oh, no no no. I don’t intend to buy it. I intend to take it, and simply felt like offering you a choice.”

Igneous narrowed his eyes. “A choice?”

“It’s quite simple. Either you can submit yourselves willingly as my slaves…” Medusa reached a hoof up to remove her mask and lower her hood, revealing a purple-coated mare with a mane composed of green snakes, “Or you can perish here and now!”

Igneous’ eyes widened whilst Maud simply bobbed her head upwards slightly. Igneous narrowed his eyes again as he took a strong step forward. “I don’t take kindly to ponies threatenin’ mah family. I suggest you take yer fancy Hollerwood wig and get off of mah land, before I grab mah pitchfork and teach y’all some manners.”

Medusa simply flicked one of the hissing snakes protruding from her head and harrumphed as she turned to the few trees nearby. “Perhaps the time I have spent locked away has made you ignorant to my identity, but I was once feared as Equestria’s greatest ever threat. Ponies have come at me with torches, pitchforks, even spells that would turn an ursa’s coat pale.” Medusa gave the stallion a challenging grin. “Your threats may as well be spitwads for all they’re worth.”

“Ma’am, I’m warnin’ you-”

“No. I’m warning you.” Medusa’s snakes rose into the air as they fell silent. And then, all at once, they squealed a sharp sound wave that resonated through the air, causing Igneous to wince and Maud to blink. When it was over, the snakes fell back into the wriggling, hissing states. “That was just a taste of my power.”

Igneous turned to the trees and gasped. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The trees that were once made of wood and leaves were now perfectly petrified. She had turned something living into stone, right before his eyes! “That’s… That’s…”

“Beautiful.” Igneous and Medusa turned to Maud with equal looks of surprise. Maud’s jaw was hanging open and her eyes were the widest the stallion had ever seen. She even seemed to be expressing an emotion or two, as well! And all this without Pinkie Pie around. “That was… beautiful.”

“I-It was?” Medusa asked, taking a step back as the mare suddenly ran towards her and grabbed a hold of her forehoof.

“You can turn anything into rocks?”

Medusa slowly nodded. “I-It’s kind of my thing. Anything at all, living or not, I can turn into rocks with a mere flick of my mane.”

Maud let out a squeak, confusing Medusa and Igneous more, the latter simply shrugging to the demon mare.

“Marry me,” Maud said.

Medusa blinked. “What?”

“Marry me. You can have the farm, you can have me. Please, make me your wife.”

“N-Now hold on there, Maud dear,” Igneous said. “Let’s not do anything rash.”

“Dad, I’ve decided,” Maud said, turning to her father. “She’s the one for me.”

Igneous sighed and scratched the back of his head. “… How can I say no that face?”

‘It looks the same as all her other facial expressions, to me,’ Medusa thought.

“Very well then! We’ll have the weddin’ this evenin’.”

“Wait.”

“Thank you, Daddy,” Maud said as she hugged her father.

“Don’t I have a say in this?”

“We’ll have to make preparations quickly.” Igneous turned to Medusa. “You, come with me. I’ve gotta take yer measurements so we can get you a tuxedo.”

Igneous turned and began walking, stopping for a moment as he waited for the mare to follow him. Medusa turned to Maud, who was standing beside her with the faintest smile on her face. With a shrug, Medusa began to follow what would soon be her father-in-law. “What the hay. I’m not getting any younger. Just so we’re clear, I intend to remodel this place into my fortress of evil.”

“Now I don’t think that-” Igneous began.

“Dad,” Maud said in a flat tone.

Igneous sighed. “… Fine. But can I at least keep the barn on the other side of the field?”

“I’m going to allow this.” Medusa looked around. Yep. There was definitely plenty of space here to slowly but surely build up an army of dark minions to one day take down this new princess named Celestia and take the throne of Equestria as she should have done many, many years ago.

And now with a queen to rule by her side, too. A cute one, at that.

Medusa grinned. Where Tirek had failed, she would surely succeed! But first, there was one pressing matter to take care of. “Did you say ‘tuxedo’?”

Author's Note

Check out the other submissions by various authours here: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2014/05/writer-training-ground-20-twilights.html

Prompt - Season 5 Episodes 25/26: A Mare on a Mission (Trixie, Cadance, OC) [Action, Adventure]

Fire to her left. Fire to her right. Trixie wiped the sweat from her brow and steadied her aim. Her opponent wasn't finished with her yet, not by a long shot. The flames around Trixie were slowly reaching out for her, but they never got too close. They were teasing her, testing her resolve.

"Are you going to make Trixie wait all day?"

With a roar, Blaze jumped out from her hiding spot and launched a sea of flames towards Trixie. "Surrender, pony!"

Trixie repelled the flames with a barrier spell, and fired a beam of magic towards the changeling. Blaze dodged to the side and charged forwards, taking advantage of the spell's cooldown to get closer to the resistance fighter. "You're mine!"

"Not so fast!" A bang sounded through the air, and the changeling fell to the ground, screeching and flailing in pain. Trixie turned around and found Mi Amore Cadenza, aiming down the sights of a flintlock rifle. "Come with me if you want to live!"

Trixie looked back at Blaze, and cast a quick spell to grow roots that would bind the changeling to the ground. She then ran over towards Cadenza and the two sprinted through the forest. "I need to get to Canterlot!"

"Forget it! The whole area is overrun by these monsters!" Cadenza slowed down, and Trixie followed suit. "There's a safe haven nearby, but we need to go underground."

"You don't understand," Trixie said. "I'm on a mission that will turn the tide of war in our favour! I absolutely must reach Canterlot by nightfall!"

"… Well then, I suppose I can't stop you. But if you must go, at least take the secret tunnels that you lead you to the base of the mountain."

"Secret tunnels? I've never heard of them."

"Because they're secret, silly," Cadenza said with a giggle. "There's an entrance to the tunnels nearby. We'll take them back to our camp and then I'll draw you a map so that you can find your way."

Trixie bowed and said, "I'm in your debt, Princess."

Cadenza shook her head. "I'm not a princess anymore. Now come, before that changeling frees itself and comes after us."

Cadenza approached a nearby tree and moved the bushes, revealing a small hole that led underground. The two entered the hole and found themselves in a dark tunnel. Trixie used her magic to light the way, and Cadenza led her through.

As Trixie emerged from the tunnels and found herself in a forest clearing, she couldn't believe her very eyes. She had expected a couple of tents and some ponies with broken limbs hobbling about, rationing resources and erecting temporary defences.

But the ponies had established a firm stronghold, using the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters, complete with archers, scouts, canons, and even a trebuchet at the top.

"That is strange," Trixie said. "Trixie has come here before, and it was abandoned."

"Shining Armor's barrier makes it seem that way," Cadenza explained. "It distorts your vision and makes you want to leave. The only way past it is through the tunnels underground."

"Mi Amore!" Cheerilee ran to the ex-princesses' side and bowed. "I'm so glad that you're back! A scouting party left to gather food, but they were caught before they could return!"

"You know the rules," Cadenza said, taking Cheerilee's hoof and leading her inside, Trixie following behind the two. "We cannot risk any soldier to rescue them."

"But Big Macintosh was with them!"

"I'm sorry," Cadenza said softly. "But he knew the risks, and was prepared to sacrifice everything to help us. I don't think he would want us to take any risks trying to save him."

As Cheerilee departed from the two, tears streaming down her face, Trixie followed Cadenza into the war room, where she recognised Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor gathered at the large table in the centre.

"Trixie?" Rainbow Dash asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same," Trixie responded. "Last we met, you were a simple weatherpony."

"That was before this whole thing kicked off," Rainbow Dash said. "I'm this army's commanding officer now."

"You are? Trixie thought that Shining Armor and Cadenza-"

"We are more like mascots," Cadenza explained. "Ponies remember us, and so it's easier for them to look up to us and follow our lead. Rainbow Dash is the real brains behind the operation."

"So, what brings you here?" Shining Armor asked. "You're the mare that drew an ursa towards that changeling outpost, right?"

"I am," Trixie replied proudly. "It was a fine victory, worthy of a mare as great as myself!"

"She needs to get to Canterlot," Cadenza explained. "There's something there that she says change the tide of war."

"And what's that?" Shining Armor asked.

"The Alicorn Amulet," Trixie answered. "An amulet said to have the ability to massively increase a pony's magical capabilities. With it, an earth pony could cause earthquakes, a pegasus could create hurricanes, and a unicorn could do anything."

"And you believe something that convenient is real?" Rainbow Dash asked with a deadpan stare.

"I know so," Trixie said. "I saw it once when I was a filly. If it is still in that same place, she could take it and use it to defeat Chrysalis' armies, driving the changelings out of Equestria and ending this war!"

"Shining, do you have the maps of the old tunnels?" Cadenza asked.

"I do, but I cannot spare her more than a sword," Shining Armor replied, digging through the papers on the table and finding the right one. "We're short on supplies as it is. If she goes, it'll be rough. She might not even make it."

"I'll take that chance."

"INCOMING!"

"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"

Everypony gasped and turned towards the doors to the rest of the castle. "What's happening?!" Trixie demanded.

A pony burst through the door and shouted, "T-The changelings have broken inside!"

"What?!" Shining Armor grabbed his sword and threw one to Trixie. "How?! The barrier's still up!"

As Shining Armor approached the pony, flames ignited from his feet and covered his entire body. The pony laughed and transformed into a changeling. "By following your mares through that tunnel! And now, the barrier will come down!"

"Damn it!" Rainbow Dash charged forwards, swinging her sword at the changeling. Blaze jumped back and pulled out her bow, drawing an arrow and aiming it at the mare. "You let one of them follow you?!"

"W-We didn’t know!" Trixie stammered. "I thought I left him tied to the ground!"

"Perhaps you forgot about the fire that I use?" Blaze fired an arrow that was alight with flames. Rainbow Dash deflected it with a shield enhanced with magic, causing the arrow to fly back towards Blaze. Blaze grabbed it with her hoof, chuckling as the flames vanished. "It's useless. My body cannot be burned."

"Trixie, this way," Cadenza whispered.

"But what about Shining Armor?!" Trixie looked over, and almost lost her lunch. The flames had vanished, and in their place were the charred remains of what used to be a pony.

"We have to go! If the amulet truly is real, then you have to get it!"

"You go on ahead!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "I'll keep this one at bay!"

Trixie sighed, and nodded. She left with Cadenza, rushing past Blaze and running down the castle's hallway. "This war… All it's done is take away the ponies we love! It's not fair!"

"I agree," Cadenza said. "That's why it has to end. That's why, you need to make it to Canterlot, no matter what!"

As the two reached the castle's courtyard, they were horrified to find that it had turned into a huge, bloody battlefield. Changelings and ponies were dropping left-and-right, flames were bellowing smoke into the air, and the sounds of canons and trebuchets echoed made it hard for the two to hear each other anymore.

Cadenza led Trixie to the entrance to the secret tunnels, and gave her the map that would show her the way. "I have to stay her and help the fight! Whatever you do, just keep going and do not look back!"

Trixie nodded. "Thank you! Trixie will find the amulet, and I will rescue the princesses and put this whole thing to an end!"

"And when you do, we'll have a day out at this spa in Canterlot! Assuming it's still up, of course!"

Trixie laughed, and entered the tunnel. Cadenza collapsed the entrance behind her, leaving the mare in complete darkness until she had lit up her horn. "… I'll look forward to that day, Cadance."

The city of Canterlot was a flaming ruin. The once-grand city had been reduced to nothing but wreckage and smouldering piles of ash in the early days of Chrysalis' invasion. The corpses of ponies wearing the old armour of the Royal Guard littered the street, as did posters celebrating the 'Royal Wedding' event that never happened.

Trixie stopped as a small skeleton crossed her path. The skeleton could have only belonged to a foal, and its bones were crushed into dust around the abdomen, whilst the rest was charred to a fine black. "Crushed by a falling building," she surmised. "Even children weren't safe. Chrysalis, you're truly the worst kind of monster."

Spinning around, Trixie drew her sword and deflected an incoming arrow. "I told you, you can't escape me!" Flames ignited around Trixie, and entrapped her in a small, burning circle. "I don't know what you hope to find here, but I will defeat you and bring you to Her Highness!"

"I've come too far! I can't stop now!" Trixie released a blast of magic that dispelled the flames and sprinted down the street. "You changelings are vile, disgusting creatures that drain all love from ponies! You must be stopped!"

"You ponies are weak! Helpless! All you do is frolic in your happiness and try to hang on to your small, worthless lives!" Blaze landed before Trixie, forcing the pony to stop. "You are prey, and we are the predators!"

"We may be prey, but we have a nasty habit of always winning!" Trixie thrust her sword forwards. Blaze deflected the attack with her shield and lunged at the mare, gnashing her teeth at Trixie's neck. "Eat this!" Trixie slipped a smoke bomb down the changeling's throat, forcing Blaze to jump back as she choked on the smokescreen.

Trixie bolted down the alleyway besides her and used her magic to toppled the remaining buildings behind herself. "I'm almost there… Hope lies just beyond this street!"

"Gotcha!" Blaze shouted as she grabbed Trixie's tail, tripping the mare, and then standing over her downed body. "You lose!"

"Not yet!" Trixie spun around and kicked the changeling's chest, allowing her just enough room to crawl out to freedom. "Get back!" she shouted as she cast a spell to push the changeling back into the rubble behind her. Trixie then turned back to the street and ran as fast as her tired, injured legs would carry her.

The building was still standing, though just barely. Trixie used her magic to force the door open and ran inside, taking a moment to catch her breath. A sharp pain struck her leg, and she screamed as she fell to the floor. Looking down, Trixie found a flaming arrow in her left hind leg, the fire slowly burning away at her coat of fur.

Blaze was slowly approaching the store, drawing another arrow from her quiver. "I'll give you one more chance to surrender, before you suffer pain far greater than ever before."

Trixie closed her eyes and held her breath. 'No… No! It can't… It can't end like this! Not when I was so close! Not when victory was within my grasp!' Trixie opened her eyes, and found Blaze standing still before her, readying the arrow into her bow. She looked around, surveying the building, and gasped. There, on the counter. There was her prize. The whole target of this mission. The one, single item that would change the tide of war.

Using what little strength she had remaining, Trixie used her magic to drag the amulet from the counter and pull it towards her own body. Just a little more… It was within reach of her hoof…

"Time's up," Blaze announced, firing his final arrow to pierce Trixie's chest. A red barrier deflected the arrow, firing back towards Blaze even faster than it was fired. Blaze fell to her knees and clutched her shoulder, shivering as the flames slowly spread over her foreleg. "W-What? But how? No flames can…"

"Huhuhuhu…" Trixie slowly rose to her hooves, the flames eating her leg evaporating, and the arrow simply falling out. "Heeheeheehee…" Trixie brushed her mane aside, stood up tall, and faced her opponent. "This power… It's even greater than I could have possibly imagined…" Trixie polished the shiny new amulet hanging around her neck, and she stared into the changeling's frightened eyes with her own confident ones, glowing red as she charged magic into her horn.

"W-What-"

"Now, changeling," Trixie began, taking a few steps forwards, "Are you ready to experience pain beyond anything you've ever felt before?"

Blaze opened her mouth, but no words came out. Only screams as she was hit by a blast of magic, that filled the area and threatened to drain all the air from her lungs.

Trixie cackled as the changeling's body slowly disintegrated, and unleashed more power. Blaze had stopped screaming, and simply lay limp in the air as she lost her legs, her stomach, her chest, and finally, even her head was dissolved into nothing.

When Trixie was done, she collected the changelings equipment and then turned to face down the street. "The Great and Powerful Trixie has returned. Queen Chrysalis, you had better run and hide while you have the chance!"

"I want this one to play my jester," Chrysalis said as she pointed to Rainbow Dash, pacing back-and-forth before the defeated resistance leaders that were shackled to her stocks, beaten and bruised to submission. She stopped in front of Applejack and said, "This one can help to power our machines. A simple spell so that she can never stop running, and she'll be a valuable asset."

"You haven't won yet!" Pinkie Pie shouted, glaring fiercely at the changeling queen. "When we get out of these, we're going to make you wish you'd never invaded Equestria!"

Chrysalis chuckled. "Oh, how humorous. Unfortunately for you, I already have my jester." Chrysalis rubbed Pinkie Pie's chin, who spat in the queen's face in response. Chrysalis rubbed the spit away and said, "Your corpse can serve as a warning to any who dare approach our borders."

"AGH!"

"UGH!"

Chrysalis turned around, eyebrow raised, and watched as her troops fell one-by-one to a blue mare with a silver many, wearing a black cloak.

"Sorry to crash the party," Trixie said. "I simply wanted to return something to you." Trixie threw Blaze's bow towards the queen, who looked down at the weapon in shock.

"That's… impossible," she stated. "Blaze is one of my top fighters! To have defeated her… who are you?"

Trixie grinned, and replied, "Your new ruler, of course."

"Guards! Execute her at once!"

Trixie didn't respond as several changeling swarmed her, all pointing their spears and hissing in unison. "You see, things are gonna work differently now." Trixie started to walk, and the changelings attacked together. Trixie cast a spell to deprive them all of air at once, and left them to drop to the ground, reaching forward as they turned blue. One-by-one, the changelings stopped moving.

Chrysalis took a step back, sweat running down her head. "S-Stay back!"

"I'm going to be in charge now, which means that, naturally, there's really no place for you."

"I said stay back!"

"Therefore-" Trixie stopped as she felt something piercing her back. She looked down to find a sword through her chest, and looked back up as she heard Chrysalis' maniacal laughter through the air.

"I warned you to stay back! It seems that you're only mortal after all!"

Trixie reached a hoof towards the sword, and cast a spell. The sword broke into two pieces, and her wound closed immediately, leaving not even a scratch to prove that she had been struck. Without even turning around, she lifted the sword with her magic and cut down the changeling behind her, keeping a hold of the shattered blade as she approached the shell-shocked queen.

"Bow to me."

Queen Chrysalis did not respond. She simply grinded her teeth and stared at the mare before her as her entire body shook.

"I said bow!"

Chrysalis gasped and dropped to her knees, though not of her own accord. A stream of red magic kept her from rising, and Trixie stepped even closer. "I-I don't know who you are or where you came from, but with your power and my army, we could rule this-"

Trixie dug the shattered blade into the back of Chrysalis' neck, silencing the queen in one swift motion, and then tossed the body aside. The captive resistance leaders simply stared in utter disbelief. Rainbow Dash spoke up first. "It- It's real," she said, attracting Trixie's attention. "The Alicorn Amulet… It was real after all!"

"Of course it is," Trixie replied. "You doubted me?"

"We were jus' growin' a lil' concerned here," Applejack said. "Y'know, about t' be executed an' all."

Trixie noticed Fluttershy squirming, trying to break out of her prison. With a simple spell, Trixie released all of the leaders, and said, "Well now, aren't you all glad that I showed up when I did?"

"You bet!" Pinkie Pie shouted, grabbing Trixie as her hair poofed out. She took a step back and straightened out her mane and tail. "Err, sorry. I'm not usually a huggy pony…"

"We won," Rarity started, "But we still need to find the princesses before we can truly declare this a victory!"

"Oh, don't worry about that," Trixie said.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "You found 'em?"

Trixie grinned and replied, "Come with me to Canterlot. You'll see."

Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Zecora, all stared with eyes wide and mouths agape, as the ruins of the once-grand city of Canterlot was shrouded by a large, pink dome. The gates and the streets were decorated with statues and banners of Trixie herself. "It will need some work, but I'm sure you'll all pitch in."

"W-What is this?" Applejack asked as Trixie led the group into the city.

"Why, it's our new home, of course," Trixie responded. "The changelings will surely be planning their retribution, once they chose their new leader. We will need to gather as many ponies here as possible, in order to keep them safe."

"But, what's with all the statues?" Rainbow Dash asked. "And where are the princesses?"

Trixie stopped and turned around. "Princess? You're looking at one." Trixie brushed her mane aside and cast a spell, replacing her cloak with a regal purple robe and a crown atop her head. "Princess Trixie Lulamoon. I will lead Equestria through this dark time. We don't need Celestia or Luna."

Fluttershy growled and stepped forwards. "You can't just usurp the throne like that! You may have saved us, but the crown rightfully belongs to-"

Trixie silenced Fluttershy by removing her mouth, leaving the mare flailing about and attempting to scream. Everypony took steps back as she cackled loudly. "Allow me to make this perfectly clear! I am your ruler now! And I will lead you all to glory! And if anypony has a problem with that, then I will make you wish that Queen Chrysalis was still alive!

"This world belongs to me now, the Great and Powerful Trixie!"