The Basement

Chapters

Death
Wait... What?
...How do you Explain Death?
Artifacts
Realization!

Death

“Extra! Extra! Read all about it!”

Spontaneous Thief Strikes Again!

Canterlot- Late last night, a priceless object was stolen from the home of the Canterlot noble, Heavenly Cross. The object that was stolen happened to be a highly valued treasure, a perfect diamond worth 150 karats, one of the largest gems in Equestria’s history. The identity of the thief is unclear, but the Royal Solar Guard has suspected that this was the work of the quickly rising thief, known as the Silent Snatch.

The Silent Snatch has become notorious over the past month with constant burglaries in the same amount of time. His fame as a thief has grown extraordinarily fast across Equestria because of his abilities in stealth and speed. The Silent Snatch has never left a single trace of himself after each theft, save for his signature calling card, a tiny note for investigators that usually entail the words, ‘Find me at the end’.

Law Enforcement has been baffled time and time again by this thief by his ability to sneak into tightly secured locations without a trace, and also by his travel speed between scenes of his crimes. It has been reported that two weeks ago, The SS (Silent Snatch) stole 10,000 bits worth of gold from the Equestrian Banking Reserve located in Las Pegasus. The very next day, he was reported to have stolen a priceless gem hidden inside a high security vault located in Manehatten, the direct opposite side of Equestria from Las Pegasus.

The Silent Snatch has earned his rank as Equestria’s #1 Most Wanted. The Royal Solar and Lunar Guards have asked that if anyone has information concerning this thief, please report it so they may bring this criminal to justice…

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

You have undoubtedly heard about the rising activity of thievery across Equestria, all done by the notorious Silent Snatch. As of now, all of his targets have been located in every city and town of Equestria, save for one location: Ponyville.

The Solar Guard believes that he hasn’t stolen from Ponyville yet, because he does not want attention drawn to that area. So, we are guessing his base of operations is located somewhere around the town.

Already, a squadron of Solar Guards is on its way to Ponyville to comb the area. But to make sure he doesn’t skip town at the first sign of the guards, I would like you to quickly check mine and Luna’s old castle in the Everfree. If anything, The Silent Snatch is hiding out there. Your only task is to see if The Silent Snatch is there. If you find him, do not engage him until the squadron arrives from Canterlot.

You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. I am simply asking you to do this as a favor.

Your friend,

Princess Celestia.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________Princess Twilight Sparkle trotted through the murky depths of the Everfree Forest, her hooves crushing wild, green vegetation as she made her way towards the castle of the royal pony sisters. As she walked, Twilight glanced through the trees around her precariously. She had been into the forest before; almost everypony knew that. But something else made this trip even more wary than her other ventures into the Everfree.

Twilight guessed that it came with the prospect of a possible encounter with a criminal, and not just any criminal either. There was a chance that The Silent Snatch, Equestria's most wanted criminal, was hidden in these woods.

"That's only a possibility, Twilight." The purple alicorn reminded herself after giving a nervous shudder at the thought. Shaking her head, she took a deep breath to calm herself, "Princess Celestia only said there was a chance he was hidden here. That doesn't mean the Silent Snatch is actually here in the Everfee, right?"

But then again, when was the last time Celestia turned out to be wrong? her subconscious chimed, causing her to chuckle nervously.

Glancing around at the forest uncertainly, with the dark shadows Twilight found herself wishing she could just use her wings to fly to the castle. But she had already decided it'd be better for her to walk through the forest, so she'd have a better chance of reaching the castle undetected. That is, if The Silent Snatch was actually hidden there.

Twilight shook her head again, snapping herself out of her thoughts, "Ugh, I can't be getting scared now. I'm doing Princess Celestia a favor, and worrying about every little thing isn't going to help. I just need to get to the castle, do a quick search through it, and then fly back to Ponyville and write to the Princess about-"

*tish* *tish*

A sudden rustle from a nearby bush made Twilight freeze in place. She quickly turned towards the sound and slowly stepped away from the plant, "Wh-who's there?"

Nothing responded. Twilight then realized that whatever had caused the bush to rustle must have left. But just to make sure, she tentatively approached the bush and peered over it. "Hello?"

But as she over it, she didn't see anything. No pony, no animal, but there was one thing that she did notice. She found herself looking at a small clearing between the trees, devoid of vegetation. And in the middle of the clearing was a hole, a perfectly circular hole in the ground, about three feet long in diameter.

Curious, Twilight gingerly trotted through the bushes for a closer look. As she did, she made sure to check if anyone else was around, because one could never be too careful in the Everfree.

As soon as Twilight reached a few hooves difference away from the hole, she craned her neck over and peered into the depths of it. But even as she looked, the bottom of the hole wasn't even visible, with only a shroud of darkness covering the length of its depths.

"Hm, strange... I wonder why a hole this deep would be way out here." Twilight tapped a hoof to her chin, "Hm... Something tells me this wasn't made naturally. The shape of it is a perfect circle, which really should be impossible to make."

The curious alicorn pondered over the hole, completely sidetracked by this mysterious thing. But as soon as she realized she had been sidetracked, she quickly backed away from the hole. As much she wanted to learn more about this strange phenomenon (If a hole in the ground could even be called this), she knew she still had a favor to complete for Princess Celestia. Nodding to herself, she decided she'd come back to investigate it after she checked the castle for The Silent Snatch.

"I'd better get going." Twilight muttered as she turned away from the hole. But as she did, she walked face first into something, which felt hard and wooden.

"Ow," Twilight winced, rubbing her snout, "What's... this?!" Her eyes instantly widened when she found herself looking into a pair of bright yellow, pupil-less eyes. What she had run into had been wooden, but more specifically, it had been a snout.

"AGH! TIMBERWOLF!" Twilight instantly backpeddled away from the giant, wooden predator, gasping as her heart rate accelerated by a hundred beats per minute.

The Timberwolf suddenly pounced at her, claws and teeth outstretched. Flaring her wings open, Twilight propelled herself backwards, just out of range of the monster's leap. Or so she thought. As the wolf landed a few inches away from her, one of its arms lashed out and its claw struck Twilight's left wing.

"GAH!" Twilight yelped in pain as the timberwolf's claw ripped through feathers and flesh. The strike knocked Twilight off balance, sending her careening to the ground. She landed only a few feet away from the timberwolf, and on the other side of the mysterious hole in the ground.

Hoping that the hole would provide a small obstacle for her attacker, Twilight glanced towards her injured wing to check the damage. Her wing had three, bleeding claw marks running through it, and broken or disheveled feathers surrounded the wound. Just moving it slightly would cause her to cry out in immense pain. Her wing definitely wasn't flight-worthy anymore, which meant she was partially crippled and being hunted by a predator; not a good combination.

Twilight quickly whirled around to face the Timberwolf, only to find the wooden beast upon her again. The wolf slashed at her with its bloodstained claws, but Twilight leaped out of the way just in time. However, Twilight winced again as she felt another jolt of pain run from her wing from the maneuver.

But out of the corner of her eye, Twilight spotted the timberwolf advancing on her. She quickly turned, lighting her horn in preparation to use a teleportation spell to get away, but the wolf was too quick. The wooden beast charged at the alicorn, ramming her straight on with the bulk of its body.

Twilight winced as she felt the equivalent of being hit by a truck. The blow sent her reeling back, but it barely lasted a second before-

Twilight screamed out in pain as she felt dozens of thorns covering the wolf's body stabbed into her flesh as it 'piledrived' her. Several trails of blood leaked out from the wooden thorns, causing her purple fur to grow crimson in color. The timberwolf jerked its head once, tossing Twilight to the side in a single motion. The alicorn landed hard on the ground, causing her to yelp again as she landed on her injured wing, causing more damage to it.

Trying to shake off the pain, Twilight looked back towards the timberwolf with teary eyes, her vision blurred and tunnel-visioned as adrenaline rushed through her body. But as quickly as before, the wolf pounced onto the fallen princess.

When it landed, Twilight screamed as she felt an excruciating pain from her torso as the wolf's claws stabbed into that area. Whimpering and hyperventilating, Twilight looked up to see the timberwolf open its giant maw as it readied to crush its prey's throat in a single bite.

With a scream, Twilight fumbled in desperation, and she kicked her back legs at her attacker in an attempt to kick the wolf off. As her back hooves connected with wood, Twilight was greeted with success as the wolf was kicked back off of her. But as the wolf reeled back from the retaliation, its claws that had stabbed into Twilight's midsection ripped downwards down the length of her body, making Twilight scream again.

Twilight panted, trying to catch her breath, but all that came out were ragged gasps. She wheezed as her head pounded with rushing blood, but the rest of her body screamed with pain; Immense, excruciating pain. Twilight fumbled with her legs as she tried to stand up on her hooves, only for her body to slump back down as her legs' strength gave out. Wincing, she glanced downwards at her torso, only to see a bloody mess covering it. But she noticed one particularly deep gash in her chest, right over... her... heart...

No... Twilight gasped in weary shock, It... Punctured my heart... I... Need help... Before I lose too much blood... Must get back... to Ponyville. Already, her vision began to dot with black spots, which meant unconsciousness would be soon to follow.

She lit her horn in an attempt to teleport back to ponyville, but Twilight found her mind racing too much. She couldn't focus enough to cast the spell, and her horn's glow died.

Twilight whimpered again. If she couldn't get back to town, she would surely die. She had to run for town now if she wanted to survive!

Come on! Get up! She screamed at herself, struggling yet again to stand up. But just as she managed to get her hooves underneath herself, she heard the falls of wooden paws behind her. The timberwolf was back.

No! I-I... I need... to get... away! Twilight pushed herself back up to a standing position, and in preparation to run from the beast behind her, she took a step forward... And her hoof never met ground.

Her whole body fell forward after her hoof. Crying out in weak shock, Twilight expected herself to land on the grassy floor of the forest again, but it never came.

Looking around herself, Twilight saw only darkness. She was falling... and falling... and falling. When she glanced up, she spotted the light of day above her, in a three foot circular hole.

Realization came to her... She had fallen down the mysterious hole. The hole that didn't look like it ever ended at the bottom.

She had fallen into a hole... And she had no way to get out, even if she did survive the blunt force of hitting the bottom of it.

Twilight closed her eyes, letting the tears in them flow out and up through the air above her as air resistance took hold of the tiny drops. There was no way out of here now. No wings, no magic, covered in major injuries, and falling down a hole where no one would ever find her body...

She was as good as dead.

Twilight let out a small sob as she let her body grow limp in the racing wind around her. She had failed during a task from Princess Celestia... She had gone without telling her friends... How would they react when she never returned?

As the thoughts of doom and depression flooded her mind, so did the darkness in her vision. And very soon, that's all she could sense as the oblivious feeling of unconsciousness overtook her.

She felt nothing.

Only death.

Author's Note

Hey, guys, Shadowflame here! How's that for the start of a story?
Feel free to point out any mistakes or improvements I can make on the chapter in the comments below.

In case you guys haven't figured it out yet, but this is a collaborative story between myself and Darkened5ky, though of course it's posted as Sky's story (for reasons Sky may or may not reveal in the future).

In any case, this is going to be fun, because I haven't done anything like this, and working with another author on a story in a puzzle piece fashion will definitely be an adventure.

Anyways, that's enough of my ramblings.
I'll catch you guys later, after you read Sky's chapter.
(Swivels in chair, away from computer) "Alright, dude! They're all yours!"

Hope you guys enjoy this very interesting story, though the first chapter might hinder that interesting-ness.
Thanks for reading,
-Shadowflame

Wait... What?

Twilight had no idea how long she fell through the darkness. Time had no meaning. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours. It could have even been years for all she knew. But it did end. It didn't end with her smashing to the ground - in fact, when she landed, it was like landing on a cloud.

She sat bolt upright in her bed, gasping. Bright light had replaced the darkness, and she had to squint as her pupils shrunk to the size of pinheads. After a few moments, she was able to see once more.

Dark blue overwhelmed her senses, as every wall was painted so. She was in a room, lying in bed across from a large window, which allowed sunlight to pour in. She recognized the place - it was her old bed/study room in Canterlot.

What on earth? she thought to herself. Am I... is this the afterlife?

It was the only thing that would've explained how she had gone from falling indefinitely to lying in bed in her old bedroom. Her suspicions grew as she looked down. There was no trace of blood, nor a trace of her fatal wounds.

I have to be dead, she realized, as tears again filled her eyes. She wouldn't ever see her friends in life again. She wouldn't see Spike again. She wouldn't be able to watch him mature into an adult, or see his futile attempts to win Rarity's heart. She wouldn't ever attend another one of Pinkie's parties again.

The list went on and on, as her sorrow threatened to overwhelm her.

"Hello there," a raspy voice said from behind her.

She jumped into the air in shock, whipping around to face the new voice. The voice, it seemed, had come from an old stallion. So old, that only a few strands of his white hair remained. His grey skin was twice as wrinkled as Granny Smith's, and he trembled as he stood on his knobby knees.

"I don't believe I've seen you before," he wheezed. "What is your name?"

"Uhh," Twilight said, nervously. "Twilight Sparkle. What's yours?"

He stood in silent thought for a few moments, then shrugged.

"I never had a name," he said, indifferently. "Never needed one."

Twilight raised an eyebrow in surprise, before remembering what her situation was.

"Where am I?" she began interrogating. "Why am I here?"

"You're in The Basement," the old stallion replied, squinting at her.

"The Basement?" Twilight was perplexed. "Is this Hell?"

"Is it, or isn't it?" the stallion said, unhelpfully. "That is for you to decide. After all, the beginning is different for everyone."

Twilight's brain shot into overdrive, as she picked at every piece of the riddle in her head. What did the stallion mean? In the few moments that she spent thinking up a million scenarios, she couldn't figure out what it meant.

"Why don't you go out there and find out for yourself?" the stallion rasped. "You're free to leave."

He gestured with a hoof towards the exit. Twilight blinked, and to her surprise, the stallion had vanished into thin air.

What on earth? she thought for the second time. She made a mental note to look up the symptoms for paranoid schizophrenia. She didn't know if the old stallion had been real, and if he wasn't, then she had a serious problem.

Deciding she could accomplish nothing by staying in the empty study, she moved to the front door. Taking a deep breath, she used magic to push the doors open, revealing the outside staircase.

She hadn't even taken three steps out the door when she was swallowed in darkness again. It felt the same as the darkness that she had been falling through, except this time, the trip was much shorter. She landed roughly on her hooves.

Right smack-dab in the center of the Ponyville town square.

Never before had Twilight felt a greater sense of confusion. She stared around the town square.

I'm dreaming, she concluded. She had dreamt up the whole thing - from the letter from Celestia to these incredibly odd circumstances. That theory was crushed, however, when she couldn't wake herself up. Three hard pinches and two bites later, she was left as confused as ever. It was definitely Ponyville, but something was... off. Even though the square was full of ponies, the air had a much more eerie feel than usual, and she couldn't quite place what was wrong.

"...And where is Twilight, anyway?" a distant voice drifted to her.

If this was the afterlife, she didn't want to catch sight of her friends, or her mental breakdown would be imminent. She looked around in a rush, spotting a fruit cart not far away. She hid behind a barrel of watermelon, as Fluttershy and Rarity trotted past.

"I don't know," Fluttershy replied in her quiet voice. "She was supposed to come help me calm down that rampaging hippopotamus, but she didn't come. She must have been terribly busy and forgotten. I had to calm the poor thing down while running away from it!"

The voices of her two friends faded away. Twilight emerged from behind the watermelon barrel. So, her friends had noticed she had gone. But how long had she been gone?

A few hours, a distant part of her brain informed her. You were supposed to sedate-- er, "calm down" that hippopotamus right after you got back from the castle.

So this wasn't the afterlife. This was current life.

Her brain threatened to switch to panicked overdrive mode, but she breathed deeply to calm herself.

OK Twilight, she thought, coaching herself. You don't know about something. What's the first step?

"...Research!" she said aloud.

Emerging from her hiding place, she started weaving her way through the town square. Luckily, her new castle wasn't far from the center of town. Soon, the castle was in sight. She trotted right up to the front door, touched the doorknob first like she usually did, magically unlocked the deadbolt, and opened it. She had a brief glimpse of the inside of the neat, pristine throne room.

Before she was swallowed in darkness again.

And this time, when it faded away, she was right outside the front door of Cranky Doodle Donkey's house.

"What the buck!" she exclaimed, annoyed, curious, and terrified at the same time. Whatever was happening here made no sense. It was as though the places that doors went were all scrambled around. No logical basis at all. She knew a lot of magic, but not even dark magic could have pulled this off.

As far as she could tell, there was no way to get back to the castle from here. She turned, and lept forward hard, impatient. She just wanted to get some research done. But as she flew forward, not paying attention to where she was going, she smashed right into Big Macintosh, sending him and his cart of apples sliding back a few feet. She fell to the ground in a heap, as Big Mac skidded on his hooves to a halt, effectively saving the cart of apples. Not a single one dropped.

"Oh my gosh," Twilight said, rubbing her side where she had smashed into him and sitting up. "I'm so sorry! I need to watch where I'm going! I--"

"It's alright, Princess," Big Mac said, extending a hoof to her. "I saved mah' apples."

She took hold of his powerful hoof, and he pulled her up gently, but firmly.

"'Ave a good one, Princess," Big Mac said, nodding at her. He resumed trotting as though nothing had happened.

As Twilight watched him walk away, she noticed something. The eerie feeling had gone. The air didn't feel as thick.

"What is going on?!" she yelled, snarling in frustration. As smart as she was, she had no idea what was happening.

Stick to the plan, Twilight, she thought, breathing deeply again. Research.

(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)

Her trip back to her castle was uneventful. She didn't come across any of her best friends, and she didn't suddenly appear anywhere weird. Whatever had been going on, it seemed to be over... for now.

Twilight tore through book after book in her study, creating a huge mess in her frenzy. Soon, she was researching every genre, every section of her new library, for any mention of "The Basement." She even retreated to her actual basement, breaking into the few dark magic books she owned, looking for anything. The closest thing she found was a poem written in the corner of the back cover to A History of Dark Magic, and she wasn't even sure it connected specifically to "The Basement."

When you have finally met your end, it is time that you descend. Falling down to your doom, trapped within your grief and gloom. You awaken in a place anew, but no, not new to you. It's a place where you have been, but for some time have not seen. The one greets you like a friend. The one who shall soon come to an end. For we all grow wise and old. Our cards are known; we soon must fold. But until then, even further we descend. Trying to make it to the end.

Frustrated and exhausted, Twilight retired to bed, despite it being four in the afternoon.

Twilight went back the next day to finish her initial job, to check the palace for the Silent Snatch. Not wanting to take the risk this time around, she flew over the trees to the palace. She spent an hour creeping around the old place, until she was quite certain that it was empty. She wrote a report to Celestia, informing her of her findings.

Of course, Twilight's curiosity got the better of her on the way back. She flew over the general area where she had been attacked, until she finally found the clearing.

The hole was still there, just as strange as ever. Twilight cocked her head, pacing around it, taking in every detail, double-checking to see if she had missed anything the first time.

What on earth could've formed this? she wondered again. Even in her specific research on this hole the previous day, she couldn't find anything that described this hole, either.

She wanted to jump down the hole. After all, this time, she had her wings, and she wasn't dying.

But something held her back. Fear.

This hole had seemed infinite, and had somehow healed her fatal wounds. Then it had caused her to hallucinate about her old Canterlot bedroom, and some old stallion.

Something about that was edgy.

Backing off, she flew into the air again back towards Ponyville, determined to forget the hole.

The next few days passed by uneventfully. Twilight went about her daily business as usual, and soon, she had almost forgotten about her horrifying experience.

But four days after she had been attacked, everything changed.

Twilight woke up in the morning as she usually did, cleaned herself up, ate her oatmeal, and was standing up to look at her schedule for the day, she stopped.

"What the--" she began, but she didn't finish.

Her insides contorted, and she felt a horrible wave of cold. She shivered violently, as she threatened to throw up all of her oatmeal. She collapsed, barely managing to stay upright.

But then, as quickly as it had come, it passed.

"Ugh," she groaned, roughly getting to her hooves. "That was weird..."

When she had regained her composure a bit, she walked over to the list and resumed her daily routine. She had to go to the market to buy some things. She walked out of the castle, heading for the marketplace.

As she walked, the muscles in her upper flank twitched, and her tail began trembling.

"Twitchy tail," she said aloud, suddenly panicking. "Duck in cover!"

She threw herself under a small balcony nearby, looking nervously upwards. Then, she giggled.

"Come on, Twilight. Pinkie's twitching tail means falling objects."

She began walking back into the open. "You don't have Pinkie se--"

*SMASH*

Twilight crashed to the ground, with a prominent lump atop her head.

"Uuuunnnnnhhh..." she moaned, barely conscious.

"I'm so sorry, Princess!" a mare called from above. "I'm always telling Strike to not keep his bowling balls on the windowsill!"

Twilight got up, nursing her new goose egg with a tender hoof.

"...Coincidence," she muttered, stumbling onward. "Absolute coincidence."

She continued without further incidents to the marketplace. She bought her supplies and was about to head home when it happened again.

Her ears flopped to the sides of her head.

"What--" she exclaimed, before she remembered that last time this happened, she had been splattered with mud. She looked around, and right to a mud puddle five feet away.

Right as a little filly, screaming with joy, landed in it.

For a little filly, it was a powerful hit. Mud flew into the air, right at Twilight.

"Oh come on!" she yelled, right as the mud hit her head-on. She was inwardly thankful that she had magically stored everything she had just bought. She was now covered head to hoof with wet mud.

(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)

Twilight sat soaking in her new bathtub, letting the mud ooze its way off of her.

"Maybe you do have Pinkie sense," she said, staring at the ceiling.

"Oh, come on, Twilight," she began arguing with herself. "Two coincidences in a row may be unlikely, but--"

She stopped. She remembered having this exact conversation with someone. Except last time, it had been with another sentient being, not herself.

She got up, hurriedly washed off the rest of the mud, and magically dried herself off. She was about to exit the bathroom, when several things happened at once. Her ears flopped, just like earlier. Her eye muscles spasmed, and her legs threatened to give out beneath her.

Wait, she paused, brain shooting into overdrive again. Ear flop, eye flutter, knee twitch. Beautiful Rainbow?

No. Opening doors.

She looked back at her bathroom door, and leapt back from it just as it burst open and Spike came in.

"Oh, sorry Twilight," he said, caught off guard. "Didn't know you were-- where are you going?"

Twilight ignored him, tearing through the castle and out the door. Deciding to ignore the remainder of her day's schedule, she made a beeline for Sugarcube Corner. It was time to get some "expert" info on this.

Soon, she found herself at the doorway to the Cakes' sweet shop. She opened it and went through. Mrs. Cake was working the counter, taking down ponies' orders. Twilight cut through the ponies in line and walked up to the counter.

"Oh, hello there Princess," Mrs. Cake said, surprised. "What can I get'cha?"

"Nothing today, thanks," Twilight said, in a rushed voice. "Have you seen Pinkie Pie?"

"I believe she's upstairs," Mrs. Cake replied, glancing behind her. "She's on break at the-- Princess?"

In her rushed frenzy, Twilight had bolted for the staircase on the word "upstairs." She flew up the flight of stairs, and straight down the hallway to Pinkie's room. She hammered on the door four times. After a moment of silence, she knocked again, even louder. As she was getting ready to hammer the door for the third time, it swung inward and opened, revealing a curious Pinkie Pie.

"Pinkie, I need to ask you some questions," Twilight stated immediately, without preamble. "It's urgent."

"Okie-dokie," Pinkie said brightly, shifting sideways slightly as Twilight hurried into the room. She shut the door behind her.

"Sit down," Twilight said, as she sat down on Pinkie's bed. "And please, tell the truth."

"All righty!" Pinkie replied, completely ignoring that she had been invited to sit down in her own room and complying.

"When did your Pinkie Sense start?" Twilight got straight to the point.

Pinkie's eyes popped in excitement. "Oooh, my Pinkie Sense? That's a toughie. Uhh... it started a bit after I got here," Pinkie said, more loudly than was necessary in a nearly empty room.

"What happened? How did you figure out it was Pinkie Sense?"

"Well..." Pinkie trailed off, thinking back to that day so long ago. In her mind, she pictured the day.

"I was moving the last of my stuff in with the Cakes," Pinkie began. "I was almost done, and I felt really, really strange. My tummy got all rumbly, but not like it does when I'm hungry or sick. Then it was gone! And later, I was getting all kinds of twitches!"

Twilight's fears were confirmed as she recalled the feeling she had this morning.

"Pinkie, this sounds crazy, so don't laugh," Twilight said, pleadingly.

"Oh, I can't guarantee that," Pinkie said, suppressing a snorting laugh.

"I... I think..." Twilight started.

She couldn't do it. She couldn't tell Pinkie what she thought. She just couldn't.

But she had to.

"I think I have Pinkie Sense too!" she finished.

Pinkie's mouth split into a wide grin, and she began hopping with glee.

"Oh, oh, oh!" she screamed. "You found it, didn't you?!"

"Found what?" Twilight asked, now confused.

Pinkie bounced up to her, getting right in her face. Then, she grew unnaturally calm, wearing a knowing smile.

"The Death Hole, you silly filly. You fell through the Death Hole, didn't you?"

Author's Note

Hey guys, Sky here!
Why a rampaging hippo?
Because fun.
I don't actually have anything to say. :derpytongue2:
Now, go read Shadow's chapter.

...How do you Explain Death?

A/N: Sorry guys, I only just now got to editing this! I couldn't really do it on my iPhone when Shadow sent it to me. I'm fairly certain everything is fixed now, but if you notice anything, PM me about it.

-Sky

Twilight just stared at Pinkie in shock, “The death hole?! What’s the death hole?”

Pinkie giggled, as if Twilight already knew the answer to her own question, “You know, that really weird, really deep hole you found in the Everfree!”

“Wait, how’d you know about that?” Twilight asked, though she was beginning to wonder if Pinkie had followed her through the forest that day. It was the only logical explanation… unless…

Pinkie Pie simply hummed as she bounced in place, “Well, you know that I have my Pinkie Sense, so how could I not know about the Death Hole if I did? Silly Twilight, I thought you’d have figured all of it out by now!”

Now Twilight was seriously confused, “Pinkie, you’re not making any sense! Figured what out?”

The pink mare quit bouncing and place, reaching for her nearby closet. She opened it up, reached inside, and wheeled out a full length chalk board into the bedroom.

Twilight’s jaw dropped as she watched Pinkie defy physics before her eyes, but then again, she shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, she herself had woken up, supposedly possessing her own Pinkie Sense. But still, seeing a full chalk board roll out of a closet half its size was unnerving to the purple alicorn.

As Pinkie brought out the chalk board, she procured a graduate’s cap and placed it on her head. “Now Twilight, my young padawan, I will teach you everything I know about the Basement.”

Twilight just stared at Pinkie, a hundred questions running through her mind at once. But, as she thought about it, she realized it might be better to remain silent and let Pinkie explain. So, the alicorn princess sat down on her haunches and listened to Pinkie as she began her lecture.

The pink mare grabbed a piece of chalk out of nowhere and began drawing on the board, “The death hole is a strange hole, one that exists as a sort of bridge between Equestria and the Basement. But not anypony can enter the Basement. The only way to enter it…” The lights in the room suddenly shut off, and Pinkie whipped around towards Twilight, her face spookily illuminated by a flashlight she held below her face, “… is to die.”

Twilight winced at that, taking a small bit of relief as the lights turned back on and Pinkie continued, “Both you and I fell down the death hole as we died, and we fell into the basement.

“Wait, Pinkie… You died?” Twilight asked, aghast to hear that her friend had supposedly died, yet she was standing before her in the flesh.

The pink mare nodded, “Yupper-do! But that’s a story for another time.” She pointed back to the chalk board, where she had drawn a little picture of Twilight, surrounded by a few other ponies, “Now, when you came back to Ponyville, you were officially in the basement, having died as you fell down the death hole. Everything else seemed normal, except you kept walking through doors and appearing in different random places.” She leaned in, nose to nose with Twilight, “Am I correct?”

Twilight nodded, and Pinkie retracted, a satisfied look on her face, “Well, you could say the Basement is a parallel world from our original one, yet it still exists in normal Equestria. The best way to explain it is that we are in our own little world, while everyone else can still interact with us while in Equestria. Our surroundings may be the same as before, but the physics of our original world no longer apply to us while in the basement.”

Twilight blinked as she digested what Pinkie said, “… Wait… So is that why you can defy the laws of physics like you always do? It’s not just a ‘pinkie’ thing?”

Pinkie blew a raspberry and giggled, “Oh, Twilight. It’s always been a ‘pinkie thing.' I mean, how many other ponies do you know of that have traveled through the Basement?”

Twilight stared at her, before sighing as she realized Pinkie would always be Pinkie, even if her tricks were revealed. “Right… So, I’m no longer affected by the laws of physics I knew before?” Twilight asked.

“Meh…” Pinkie scratched her chin with a hoof, “It’s more half and half. I mean, you’re still affected by gravity, but you can choose to not follow physics’ laws whenever you want to. See, look!” She pulled a serious face, “Phht, screw gravity."

Instantly, Pinkie’s body floated up off the floor and she drifted up towards her bedroom ceiling, leaving a jaw-dropped Twilight below her.

It took a moment for Twilight to regain her composure, before shouting up to her friend who was now hanging upside down from the ceiling, “How did you do that, Pinkie?”

“Easy.” The mare replied, as she proceeded to walk along the ceiling, and then down the wall until she was back on the floor, “I just chose to ignore the law of gravity, and then ‘Air Pinkie, you’re free for take-off’! I even decrease gravity’s hold on me most of the time, just so I can bounce around longer than anypony else can.”

Twilight put a hoof to her chin, “Hm… interesting. This does certainly explain a lot… So, you’re saying that I can do this, too?”

“Yup!” Pinkie grinned at her with an expecting smile, “So, what smarty-pants law of physics are you going to break now?”

“Um…” Twilight cringed, “I think I’ll hold off on that for now. I’d rather try to keep myself partially in normal Equestria.”

“Okie Dokie!” Pinkie chimed, “Just go ahead when you feel comfortable to do it.”

She suddenly bopped herself on the head with a hoof, “Oh, yeah. Oops, I forgot. I’ve only shown you the fringe benefits of being in the Basement. It’s high time to show you the main part of our little world. Follow me!” Pinkie bounced out of her room, beckoning her confused friend to follow.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

“Um, Pinkie? Why are we in the Everfree?” Twilight asked. It seemed almost like yesterday she had gone in her, only for all this madness to begin.

Pinkie smiled back at Twilight as she led the way, but something seemed… off about it. From Twilight’s view, it seemed as if it lacked the usual enthusiasm from before. “Well, in order to show you everything about the Basement, we need to go inside it first. So, we need to go down the death hole again.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, “Wait, I thought I was already in the Basement.”

Pinkie shook her head, “Actually, you’re not, Twilight; neither of us are at the moment. Even though you fell down the death hole, you can still get knocked out of the Basement and into Equestria again. And since you developed your Twilie Sense-“

“Twilie Sense?”

“Yup, I’ve got my Pinkie Sense, Cheese Sandwich has his Cheesy Sense, and you have your Twilie Sense now.”

Twilight gave Pinkie an incredulous look, “Cheese Sandwich has been in the Basement too?”

Pinkie nodded, “Yup, but I’ll tell you about that later. As I was saying, since you’ve developed your Twilie Sense, you must have been knocked out of the Basement recently ever since you first fell down into it.”

Soon after a few minutes of walking, the duo found themselves standing at the mysterious death hole. Twilight wasn’t sure if Pinkie felt it, but suddenly knowing what this hole really did caused the hair on her back to stand up on end.

Shaking the feeling away by declaring it as a ‘For science!’ matter, Twilight turned to Pinkie, “So… all we have to do is fall in again to reach the Basement.”

Pinkie froze for a moment, wincing slightly, “Eh, sort of. You see… when I said you needed to die while falling down the death hole…” She began scratching the top of her mane, hesitantly, “… I meant that as a full-time requirement.”

Suddenly, Pinkie withdrew a knife out of her mane and rammed it through Twilight’s back.

Twilight screamed in pain as the knife pierced perfectly through her heart, only to feel Pinkie push her body forwards into the death hole. As Pinkie did so, she yelled after her friend’s falling form, “Find your way back to Ponyville Square! I’ll meet you there!”

Adrenaline coursed through Twilight’s veins, causing her mind to hyperactively race. None of her thoughts were coherent, but all of them leaned towards the thoughts of Why would Pinkie do this? Why would she stab me in the back? and Am I really dying again?

Soon, the darkness overtook her as her heart stopped beating.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Instantly, Twilight’s eyes flung open in shock as she began hyperventilating. She clutched her chest and sat up from where she lay. After a few quick breaths, she noticed that she was once again sitting on her bed back in her room at Canterlot; the place she had woken up when she first went into the Basement.

Twilight sighed, It’s okay, Twilight. Get ahold of yourself. As Pinkie said, the only way I could have gone through the death hole was to die… She clutched her chest in uncertainty, Still, I didn’t think she’d pull a knife on me… Why does she even keep a knife in her mane anyways?! Isn’t that dangerous?!

Twilight shook her head as she hopped off her bed, “No, Pinkie is still my friend. She was only helping me, so I can’t blame her for that.”

Looking around, Twilight scanned the inside of her Canterlot room, “Hm… I guess I’m back in the Basement.” Only the bad feeling the place gave her confirmed her guess, causing her to shiver a bit, “Putting that aside, I wonder if I’ll pop up here every time I come in here.” She tapped a hoof to her chin, “I’ll have to ask Pinkie about that.

“Oh, speaking of Pinkie, I should meet up with her back in Ponyville Square… But how did I get there before from here?”

Twilight looked towards the only door out of her room, “Well, last time I went through there, and I ended up in Ponyville.” Making way to the door, Twilight gulped, “I sure hope this takes me there again.”

Mustering a bit of courage, Twilight opened the door and galloped through it. Suddenly, she found herself surrounded by darkness. But that only lasted for a second as the darkness receded and the purple alicorn found herself in the center of Ponyville square.

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the familiar sight of ponies and vendors exchanging bits for products. Fortunately for her, no one seemed to notice her sudden appearance. “Looks like I got lucky.”

“No you didn’t, silly.” Twilight nearly jumped out of her hooves as Pinkie suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Twilight clutched her chest as her heart raced to unmatched speeds for the 2nd time that day, “Oh my- Pinkie! Where did you come from?”

Pinkie giggled, “Oh, sorry. I just had to walk through a few doors to get here; nothing special.”

“Doors? What doors?”

Pinkie bounced on her hooves like her usual self, “Well, now that we’re in the Basement together, I can show you! Follow me again!” She pronked away from the Ponyville Square, with a more than confused alicorn in tow. (Yes, pronking is a word, as it refers to the movement of an animal that travels by bouncing.)

But as Twilight followed Pinkie, she wondered, The Death Hole, The Basement, dying, doors, and defying physics? I never thought everything behind Pinkie would be so… She glanced around the Basement Ponyville, as if searching for the right word, …demented.

It was true, she didn’t like any moment she had been in the Basement so far. It was most likely because it seemed like this random thing out of nowhere turned every place she knew and loved into someplace where the only thing she felt was doom and gloom. Places of solitude and peace now only seemed to yield discomfort and wariness, all because of the feeling that permeated through the air.

I really hope I don’t have to stay in here longer than I have to. Twilight consciously muttered to herself, … Although, now that I think about it, how did I get out of the Basement last time?

She turned to Pinkie and asked the question on her mind, and the pink mare explained, “Oh, well you know how I said the Basement and Equestria could interact with each other? Well, if a big enough interaction with the normal world comes along and you get caught up in it, then you’ll get pulled out of the Basement.”

Twilight tapped her chin with a hoof, A big interaction? Hm… what did I do that got me pulled out of the Basement? Suddenly she remembered, Back when I ran into Big Macintosh! I don’t know if that was the interaction that pulled me out, but I know the feeling of the Basement left after that happened.

Twilight looked to Pinkie again, “Pinkie, could running into somepony be considered a big enough interaction?”

Pinkie stopped her bouncing and pursed her lips in thought, “Hm… Yup! But it’d depend on who you run into, or who runs into you.” She leaned into Twilight’s face, “Why? Who’d you run into?”

Twilight recoiled a bit, “Um, Big Macintosh… and I kind of knocked him over.”

Pinkie immediately burst into giggles, “Wow, you knocked him over?”

“It was an accident!” Twilight defended, “I didn’t see him in front of me.”

Pinkie giggled again, “Well, if you knocked a big guy like that over, then that’d do the trick.” She began pronking on her merry way, “Now follow me, Twilight! We’re almost there. First we need to reach my bedroom.”

Before long, Pinkie led Twilight to the front door… of Quillsand Sofas?

Pinkie pulled the front door open, “Follow me! Hi ho, Pinkie!” She jumped through the door, leaving Twilight at the door, once again, extremely confused.

“Um, Pinkie?” Twilight tried to call after her friend, “I thought we were going to Sugarcube Corner!”

But the pink mare was out of sight.

Twilight sighed at Pinkie’s antics, deciding to follow her inside the shop. This wasn’t the place she had been expecting to go, but at least she could stop by with the store clerk and see if his new shipment of quills came in today. That’d-

Suddenly, as Twilight entered through the door, she was swallowed by the darkness, and she reappeared walking into Pinkie’s bedroom at Sugarcube Corner.

Twilight’s eyes widened, “Whoa! How did I get here?!”

Fortunately for her, Pinkie was already waiting, leaning against the far wall on her hind legs like a punk in an alley, though a punk wouldn’t have had the largest of smiles plastered to their face, “Took you long enough, silly goose!”

Twilight was about to ask how they had gotten there, but Pinkie put a hoof over the alicorn’s mouth before any words were let out, “We’ll have time for questions later, but first!~”

Pinkie bounced across her room and opened up her closet. She then stood like an usher at a door, encouraging Twilight with a hoof to enter it, “~After you, Princess!~”

Though slightly confused, Twilight complied and entered the closet. However, as she did so, she was surrounded by a familiar darkness.

Did Pinkie just lock me in her closet? Twilight wondered, as she realized she couldn’t even see the light behind her from the bedroom.

But her question was answered as she suddenly walked out of another open door… Except it was nowhere near Pinkie’s closet. She had just walked out the front door of Cheerilee’s school house.

Twilight glanced around her surroundings, abnormally startled, “What the hay? Not this again!” But hay, what else had she been expecting? Captain Hook the Biker Gorilla? Nope, nothing.

She turned around, to see Pinkie suddenly appear in the doorway of the schoolhouse as well, a wide grin on her face. Thankfully there was no school today, otherwise Twilight feared they would have given a poor foal a heart attack.

Pinkie grinned at Twilight, “See? This is what the Basement is, in its most basic form. The physics of Equestria aren’t followed in here, like I said before. When you go through a door back in the old world, you just wind up on the other side. In the Basement, you go through a door, and you go to an entirely different place.”

Twilight winced a bit, “So, stepping through doors will always take you to different place than it did before?”

“Yupper Doodle Doo!”

Twilight glanced back towards the door of the schoolhouse, “So… If we walked back through that door, it’d take us back to your closet?”

Smiling, Pinkie trotted over to Twilight, leaned in about an inch away from her face. Once she was happily positioned in Twilight’s personal space, she simply said, “Nope.” Instantly, Twilight felt her body rise off the ground as Pinkie picked her up in her arms, only to be brutally tossed back through the schoolhouse door.

Once again, as Twilight yelped at her landing, the darkness consumed her, and she popped out of another door. She looked up, and sure enough as Pinkie had said, she wasn’t back in Pinkie’s room. She was sitting in a gutter, having come out of the front door of Pony Joe’s Doughnut Shop… All the way in back Canterlot…

Twilight didn’t even dare get off the ground, putting both arms over her head. She winced as a headache formed in her skull, from over exposure to randomness and inconsistency. “Ugh! This doesn’t make any sense!”

Pinkie giggled as she walked ‘out’ of the Doughnut Shop, “Silly Twily, sure it makes sense! Getting to places in the blink of an eye is really helpful, but it wouldn’t be very helpful if I didn’t know the pattern it uses.”

Twilight was afraid to ask, “What’s the pattern, then?”

“It all depends on the point of entry.” Pinkie explained, “You see, going through my closet takes me to Cheerilee’s school, where I can always be on time to ring the morning bell. Then going back through the school’s door takes me to Pony Joe’s Doughnut Shop, where I usually get a doughnut or two. I’ve become a regular customer here ever since the Grand Galloping Gala, because Joe makes the yummiest doughnuts in the world!” She began rubbing her hooves together mischievously, “And when I finally get that recipe from him… Ho, ho, ho, nothing will stop me from making the perfect desert.”

“What was that, Pinkie?”

“Oh, nothing, Twilight.”

Twilight frowned as she thought of something else, “But, Pinkie… How do you get into Pony Joe’s shop if you go somewhere else when you enter his front door?”

“Simple!” Pinkie exclaimed, “Just hop through a window! That’s what I do.”

Twilight gave her a curious look, “You just hop through window to get past the doors? Why aren’t they affected too?”

“Because they’re not doors!”

Twilight facehoofed.

Shaking her head, the alicorn grumbled, “But Pinkie, I can’t go jumping through windows while I’m in the basement. Ponies will think it’s weird for me, a Princess, to do that. I have enough trouble with paparazzi as it is.”

Pinkie merely shrugged, “Suit yourself. You can come up with your own way, so long as it doesn’t involve going through doors.”

Twilight glanced back at Joe’s Doughnut Shop, tapping a hoof to her chin, “Hm… get inside… without using the door…” She gasped, “I’ve got it.” Her horn began glowing with magic, until it burst, teleporting both Twilight and Pinkie inside the shop.

Pinkie giggled at Twilight, who looked rather pleased with herself, “Well, that worked. Definitely is way super-duper-cooler than my way!” Now that they were situated inside the shop, Pinkie glanced towards the front counter, where Pony Joe stood behind a cash register. The pink one’s mouth began salivate from looking at the delicious treats lined behind the shop owner, “Hey! Now that we’re in, we should get doughnuts! After all, teaching about every little detail of the Basement sure takes a lot out of ya!”

Nodding, Twilight followed Pinkie up to the front counter, until they were standing right in front of Pony Joe.

But when they reached the counter, Pony Joe seemed… like he was looking right through the two of them. Twilight frowned a bit, since every time she had come here in the past, Joe had always been vigilant at greeting ponies as they came in. Maybe he was just zoned out?

“Hiya, Joe!” Pinkie shouted, “Imma here for some doughnuts!”

Joe suddenly jumped in place, as if he hadn’t seen the two mares in the first place. He glanced down at them, before recognizing them, “Oh, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, two of my frequent customers! Sorry, I didn’t see you there. But then again, how could I have missed my best customer and the Princess of Friendship herself?” He chuckled, “Oh well, what can I get for you two?”

Pinkie’s hoof immediately shot in the air, “Ooh, ooh, me first! I’ll get a cake sprink-smish-for-lunatics!”

“Like you?” Joe joked, before turning to Twilight, “And can I get for you, Twilight?”

“Oh, um, the usual will be fine.”

“Okay, one Sprink-smish and one maple bar, coming up.” Joe turned around and retrieved the doughnuts, which Twilight paid for with her bits. After all, ever since becoming royalty, she now had more money from the royal reserves than she knew what to do with.

After thanking Pony Joe for the doughnuts, Twilight and Pinkie sat down at a booth and began enjoying their pastries.

Nibbling on her treat, Twilight frowned a bit as she recollected, “That was weird.”

“What?” Pinkie asked with a mouthful of doughnut, which turned out to be a chocolate doughnut with only a cluster of sprinkles on one side of its frosting.

“It seemed like Pony Joe couldn’t even see us, even though we were standing right in front of him… almost as if we were invisible.”

Pinkie giggled as she finished the last of her doughnut in a single bite, “Well, we’re in the Basement, and we can interact with the normal Equestria, but to them, we’re almost unnoticeable. Only a few ponies, like Princess Celestia, could see us in the Basement, but for everypony else, they wouldn’t notice us until we directly interacted with them.” Pinkie suddenly began giggling to herself again, “We could walk right through the front doors of Canterlot Castle without an appointment, and the guards at the doors wouldn’t even notice us.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, “And you know that how?”

“No reason.” Pinkie replied innocently.

Shrugging Pinkie’s reply away, Twilight turned back to her thoughts, which she immediately voiced, “But Pinkie, why the Basement? Why does it even exist? Where did it come from?”

Pinkie’s smile instantly vanished, which almost shocked Twilight as much as the time her friend had driven a knife into her back. The party pony sighed, “That’s… something I don’t like to think about.”

“Why not?”

Pinkie paused, but then answered, “I’ll just tell you, then you’ll know why.”

She cleared her throat, but by then, her mane was beginning to droop, “Equestria itself is generally good, great even. There are hardly any really bad things, but if there are, they don’t last long. That’s only because there’s a lack of dark energy, or how it’s often called, ‘Evil energy.'

“Everywhere there must be darkness and light. They’re both two halves of the same coin, and neither could exist without the other alongside them. But for some strange reason, only good energy and light prevails in Equestria. Like I said, light energy can only exist alongside dark energy, so that dark energy has to come from somewhere, right?”

Twilight nodded her head slowly. “I think I follow… but how does the Basement tie into all of this?” She asked cautiously.

Pinkie’s head drooped a bit, “The Basement- For all the light energy in this world, all the dark energy exists in the Basement. For some reason, it can’t exist naturally in Equestria, so it must be held in the Basement for order and harmony to be restored.”

Twilight felt herself freeze in shock as she registered what Pinkie had said, “You mean… we’re surrounded by this dark energy?”

Pinkie shook her head, “Not only surrounded, but we’re ingesting it as well. We’re both absorbing more and more dark energy from the Basement as we speak.”

Twilight winced for a moment, unsure, “Is that bad?”

Sighing, Pinkie shook her head, “Not really, but it’s just unsettling is all. Even after all my time in here, I can’t quite get over it. So, I’ve just blocked that fact out whenever I’ve come in here. But that has been kind of hard, since the Basement pretty much runs on dark energy.”

Twilight scratched her chin with her hoof as all the pieces of this puzzle began to come together, “Runs on dark energy? Does that mean everything, defying the laws of physics, the portal doors, the Pinkie Sense, all of it comes from the dark energy in the Basement?”

Pinkie nodded, “Everything we can do in the Basement, we can only do because of the dark energy we’ve taken in. Even after leaving the Basement, I can still defy physics minimally, until the dark energy I’ve stored inside me is used up.”

“And then you have to come back and recharge.” Twilight guessed, “That’s why you act so random sometimes, isn’t Pinkie?”

A tiny smile grew on Pinkie’s face, “Well, most of the time it’s only because I just want to see my friends smile, and that has nothing to do with the Basement. But since I’ve fallen down here, it’s become part of my life, and I can’t turn my back on it either.”

Twilight lifted a hoof and ruffled her mane a bit, “I always wondered why you had Pinkie sense and could do what you do… but I didn’t think it was this… I don’t know, dark.”

Pinkie smiled, her usual cheerful expression slowly returning, “I know, but my friends usually make it all better for me. But now that you’re here with me, I finally have someone I can relate to about all this.”

That made Twilight pause for a moment. Honestly, dark energy? From what she had studied in Celestia’s records, dark energy was essentially broken and dormant energy of some mysterious and terrifying creatures from the country’s myths: demons. She wasn’t sure if Pinkie knew this… but why wouldn’t she know. After all, she seemed to know the answer to everything thus far. Maybe that was the reason why she didn’t like to think about the dark energy; Because of the demons?

Pinkie chuckled, breaking Twilight’s train of thought, “Aw, look at me, getting all wishy-washy.” Her normal smile and bouncing mane swiftly returned as if a leaf blower had been taken to it, “Before the day ends, we need to get you an artifact!” She suddenly grabbed Twilight’s arm and pulled her from the booth they sat at.

“A what?!” Twilight yelped.

“An artifact! It’s another way to travel back to the Basement, which doesn’t involve dying! I mean, who wants to die every time they come down here? Talk about painful!”

“But wait! I didn’t finish my doughnut!”

Author's Note

Hey everyone!
So that was basically the biggest explanation chapter in the story, but the next chapter will be more action packed… I think.
“Hey, Sky! What exactly are you doing for next chapter?... Oh, you don’t know? Alright, I guess.”
Well, you guys will just have to wait for next chapter!
Thanks for reading,
-Shadowflame

Artifacts

"So, I just hold it in my hoof like this," Twilight said, "and it will charge?"

Pinkie smiled, "Yep! Then it becomes a super convenient artifact!"

It was late into the afternoon, and they were back in front of the Death Hole. Pinkie was teaching Twilight about "artifacts." Basically, just like they could absorb energy from the Basement, any objects they would carry during the descent became full of it. Then, instead of needing to go down the Death Hole, they could use this object as a sort of gateway between the two realities. And just like them, when the artifact ran out of energy, it would need recharging.

"But Pinkie," Twilight frowned, "there's something I don't get. If you had two artifacts, wouldn't the one you're not using get recharged when you use the other one?"

Pinkie smiled. "Nope."

"That's it? Just nope?" Twilight asked.

Pinkie continued, as though there had been no pause, "Because the artifacts work differently from the Death Hole."

"Well, would you care to explain?" Twilight asked, slightly impatient. Spending an entire day with Pinkie Pie could be a huge test of patience, and Twilight was just about at her limit.

"Well, you know how the Death Hole fixes up your mortal injuries after you fall down it? That's because when you go down the Death Hole, it shoots you up with a huuuuuge blast of dark energy that fixes up your impossible injuries!"

"All right," Twilight said, "but what does that have to do with artifacts?"

"When artifacts go with you down the death hole, the same thing happens; they get shot full of dark energy. But they don't absorb energy constantly like we do. The only way for them to get charged is by going down the Death Hole. Another artifact isn't strong enough to do it."

"So you still have to go down the Death Hole sometimes?" Twilight asked, her hopefulness at a loophole fading as the reality of the situation returned.

"Yep," Pinkie replied, "unless you know some smarty-pants-alicorn-princess way to get that much dark energy at once."

Pinkie kept calling it dark energy, but something kept nagging at Twilight in the back of her mind. She was actually unconvinced the Basement had anything to do with dark energy. She knew what dark energy felt like - several of the villains she had faced in her time had been filled with it. Without dark energy, it would be impossible to do any dark spells. But that meant that it was always distinguishable.

And Twilight had never sensed even a tiny bit of it from Pinkie, and especially not from Cheese Sandwich. Dark energy produces a lot of fear, and while the Basement was freaky, it wasn't dark-energy-freaky...

It was a whole ton freakier than dark-energy-freaky.

But if it wasn't dark energy... what was it? And why couldn't she sense it in Pinkie?

"Hello? Earth to Twilight! You there? Ponyville calling Princess Twilight Sparkle!"

With a slight start, Twilight retreated out of her thoughts, remembering that she was still in the middle of a conversation with Pinkie Pie.

"Sorry," she apologized, "I guess I zoned out for a second there."

"Where did you go?" Pinkie asked excitedly.

Twilight giggled, "I was right here the whole time, Pinkie."

"But your brain wasn't right here the whole time!" Pinkie exclaimed, eyes widening as she tapped a hoof against one of her temples. "What were you thinking about?"

Improvising swiftly, Twilight replied, "I was just wondering... how did you find out Cheese Sandwich had been to the Basement?"

Pinkie smiled mischievously, "Ooh, your brain wanders and you're thinking about him?" She suddenly popped up right beside Twilight, nudging her with her front leg, "I think somepony has a crush!"

Twilight replied with a sly smile, "Oh, Pinkie. I'm not the one with a crush on him."

Pinkie's expression didn't change, though her eyes became slightly unfocused as she continued, "It was when he left Ponyville, and he gave me Boneless. I noticed he was almost filled with dark energy. He was an artifact!"

"Like, an artifact artifact?" Twilight said, mouth falling open slightly.

"Yes indeedy! He was my main artifact until he turned into a key for Hasbro's-Toy-Advertisement-in-a-Box."

"Wait, a key for what?"

"Oh, never mind," Pinkie replied. "Anyway, I think it was Cheesy's test to see if I was just as messed up as he was!"

"Cheesy?" Twilight suppressed a giggling fit, with difficulty. "Is that what you call him now?"

"It's what he likes me to call him, yeah," Pinkie said. Her eyes remained slightly starry, while Twilight silently died of an attack of the giggles.

"But why are we still talking about Cheesy," Pinkie said, shaking her head slightly and popping her bubbly smile back onto her face, "when you have an artifact to charge up?"

Twilight was, after all, still holding a golden 100,000-bit coin in her hoof. She had selected it as her first artifact before they had returned to the Death Hole, and now they were going to charge it with... 'dark' energy.

"Hmmm..." Pinkie frowned, walking circles around Twilight while staring at the small coin that was worth more than all of Ponyville combined, "how many of those do you have?"

Twilight, though slightly embarrassed, admitted, "...Way more than I'll ever need. Ever."

"Then how will you be able to tell it apart from the others?"

"I thought I'd be able to feel how much it has left!" Twilight exclaimed.

"You can. While you're holding it. If you're not holding it, you can't feel it. So if you put that back wherever you keep all of your money, how would you be able to find it amongst all of the others you have?"

Twilight opened her mouth, and then closed it again. She knew it was a high possibility. She could separate it from the rest, but her OCD wouldn't allow that. She knew she'd immediately put it with all of the other 100,000 bit coins. Then how would she ever find it again? She didn't even know how many of those coins she had.

"Need help setting something apart, you say?" A voice suddenly echoed through the forest clearing, causing both Pinkie and Twilight to jump in alarm. "I think I can help."

A bright flash of light appeared right next to Twilight, and she yelled slightly as a tall figure appeared within. There was only one creature she knew who would do that.

"Discord! What have I told you about sneaking up on ponies like that?!" Twilight yelled.

"My, my, aren't we snappy today!" Discord replied, pretending to recoil slightly. Then, he leaned down and took a look at Twilight's six-figure bit. "Here."

With a wave of his lion's paw, the coin flashed with light, and Discord vanished again. Twilight looked down at the full-color picture of her face now imprinted on the coin. Her eyes were wide with surprise, and she was wearing a giant golden crown and a red cape of royalty.

"Discord!" Twilight yelled, looking around in anger, "you get back here and fix this right now!"

Pinkie could only gape at the coin, open-mouthed.

"That was more money than I'll make in my entire life..." she said, in an indiscernable tone.

Twilight, calming slightly, looked down an the now-worthless coin.

"At least that problem's fixed..." she mumbled. Then she glared. "If anypony ever judges me over this coin, I will kill you, Discord!"

"Whelp, now there's only one thing left to do!" Pinkie said.

Twilight looked around, just in time to see Pinkie's knife two inches from her chest. For the second time that day, excruciating pain shot through her like poison, from her chest outward. She tumbled backward into the hole, as Pinkie called out to her, "Whatever you do, DON'T DROP THAT BIT!"

Twilight clenched the warm little piece of metal in her hoof, as once again, her heart stopped beating, and she was engulfed in the darkness.

(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)(=)

"So how often do artifacts need recharging?" Twilight asked Pinkie. They had met up in the Ponyville square, just like they had previously done.

"Meh, It depends," Pinkie said, scratching her chin absent-mindedly with a hoof. "They're usually good for four or five trips, but some more magically powerful ones can last a trip or two longer."

"So how do I use it?" Twilight asked.

"Easy!" Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing slightly, "Just hold onto it real tight and wish that you could jump back into the main world, and it'll happen!"

Twilight held onto her bit, and was about to will it to take her back upstairs when it was suddenly yanked from her hoof.

"Uh-uh-uh," Pinkie scolded, tossing the bit lightly into the air and catching it again, "you don't want to waste a trip, do you?"

"Waste a trip?" Twilight said, her ears drooping slightly. "There's more?"

"Of course there is, silly goose!" Pinkie said. "I haven't taught you everything yet!"

As she opened her hoof to catch the bit again, it didn't ever come. She looked around to see it held in Twilight's magical grasp.

"I'm done for today, Pinkie," Twilight declared. "I died today -- twice! I'm exhausted, my head hurts, and I just want to go home."

Before Pinkie could protest further, Twilight willed the bit in her hoof to take her upstairs. Immediately, the thick, gloomy air of the Basement dissipated, and even though she knew right where Pinkie was standing, she couldn't get her eyes to stay there. She got an eerie, opressive feeling in her mind whenever she tried. This, she supposed, was the feeling Pinkie had described earlier, where it's hard for anypony to notice them while they're down under.

Suddenly, Pinkie appeared right next to Twilight, clenching a rubber chicken in her hoof; Boneless 3, her main artifact.

"Aww, Twilight!" Pinkie whined. "I still have so much more to teach you!"

"It'll have to wait until tomorrow, Pinkie," Twilight said, making her way across town towards her castle. "I'm completely beat."

"Oh... all right," Pinkie pouted in defeat. "But I'll be over here first thing tomorrow morning to get you!"

Twilight meandered to her tree castle, not focused on where she was going. Before she could blink, she found herself in the throne room.

"Where have you been?!" Spike exclaimed the moment he saw her. "I had four different ponies come ask me where you were! You didn't show up for your appointments with anyone today!"

"I'm going to my bedroom," Twilight informed him. "Unless it's dire, no interruptions."

Spike wanted to ask more questions, but in cases like this, Twilight's word was final. He kept silent as she walked through the hidden door disguised as a wall, and ascended the castle to her bedroom. She collapsed onto her four-poster bed, completely drained.

Of course, she couldn't actually get any sleep. It was still about five in the evening, and there was zero chance of her sleeping. As soon as she could muster the energy, she got up, and got an empty journal from a bookshelf.

"Time to document all of this," she declared to the air, quill raised.

She began writing down everything she could think of about the Basement, how she got there, and what its effects seemed to be. When she had finished with it, she locked it in her lockbox, which contained all of the dark magic books she owned.

Then she paced the room for three straight hours, with only the clip-clop of her hooves to keep her company. She was tempted to leave her bedroom before she remembered that the last thing she wanted right now was to deal with more people. (Twilight has said people in the show, it's allowed!)

When 9:00 hit, she couldn't resist it anymore. Even though she hated every moment she had to spend in it, she had to discover more about the Basement.

"Four or five trips, huh?" she said, looking down at the bit-sized version of her face. "All right. Take me back downstairs!"

The air around her thickened, and the opressive feeling returned to her chest. She knew it had worked.

"All right," she muttered, pulling paper and quill from one of her drawers. "Better start mapping this."

Even if she despised it, if the Basement proved useful, she might as well use it.

She drew her bedroom, and the two doors that it held. She looked at the door to her bathroom. "I wonder if this counts as a 'door.' It doesn't lead anywhere important... but then again, Pinkie's closet led somewhere. I'll have to try my closet too," she realized with a jolt, and hurriedly added it to the map. "But first, bathroom."

She took a deep breath to ready herself, and she charged full-speed at her bathroom door. She burst through it in a frenzy, caught one glimpse of the still-shiny interior, and was swallowed by darkness again.

When the darkness dissipated, it was immediately clear that she had moved. But it was a place she had never been before.

It was dark, lit only by a few oil lamps. A massive yawn filled the air, and Twilight jumped again. Right in the center of the little room was the last person she had expected: Discord.

Discord finished his enormous yawn, before his eyes widened. He looked around in alarm.

"Who's there?" he said.

Twilight assumed Discord was magically powerful enough to have sensed her. After all, he was at least as old and at least as powerful as Celestia, so it was no surprise.

Is this where Discord lives? Twilight wondered silently. I didn't think it'd be so... gloomy.

"Twilight?" Discord said.

Next thing Twilight knew, she had been picked up around the middle by a griffon's talon. Discord hugged her to his side. "Twilight, it's you!"

Surprised, Twilight teleported out of his grasp in a lavender flash of light, reappearing on the ground.

"I see you've discovered the powers of the Basement," Discord observed.

Twilight's mouth fell open once again in shock. "You know about it too?!"

"Please, I know the Basement like the back of my head," Discord said, as eyes popped out of his head to peer behind it. "...Oh, that's new."

He teleported right behind Twilight, bending his neck so his head was level with hers, "as is this connection within the Basement. I didn't think the Basement was connected to this place."

"What is this place?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, this old thing? This is my home!" Discord proclaimed. "It's a nice little pocket in space-time, shoved into the gap between two quantum dimensions that I exist in; The Equestrian Dimension, and The United Federation of Planets Dimension."

"What's 'The United Federation' --"

"Oh, it's not important," Discord interrupted her, waving his paw. "The point is, this is my home. But now let's get you back to yours."

With a snap of his fingers, the area around them changed. Twilight was back in her bedroom once again, but still in the Basement.

"Hey, now that you're so close, you should come visit me more often!" Discord said, rubbing his hands together. "Oh, the fun we'll have..."

He disappeared again.

Twilight, making a mental note to always use the bathroom before jumping down to the Basement, drew a little square next to her bathroom door on her map, labeling it "Discord."

Next, she headed for her closet door. She pulled it open and walked inside, closing it behind her as the familiar darkness enveloped her. When it subsided, her eyes widened.

Once again, she had no idea where it had taken her. She could hear echoing, deep-frequency sounds eminating from somewhere nearby. She looked down the hallway she had appeared in, and saw a door at the very end. Turning around, she was surprised to find a door leading right outside. She immediately recognized the city; Canterlot. Right outside the door stood two ponies, which Twilight realized were bouncers.

Why would my closet lead to a Canterlot Nightclub? Twilight wondered silently.

She wanted to go back through the door, but even with the stealth abilities the Basement provided, she didn't know if she could get past the bouncers without being noticed. Instead, she turned back and walked down the hallway. The deep bass of the club music got louder as she went. Soon, she found herself in front of the door, and she stopped. Should she walk through the door and go somewhere else, or should she go into the club?

"Why would I be at a club?" she wondered aloud. "Is it significant, or just random? But then again, the routes from Pinkie's room seemed to lead her to places that she found useful. Maybe this club is significant? But I guess my bathroom led to Discord. Why would that be useful to me?

"But I'll never know until I see it," she concluded. She lit her horn, and teleported to the other side of the door.

It was a semi-crowded nightclub. There was room to walk, but there was definitely a distinct path, due to the groups of ponies dancing in the center. A familiar face sat at the DJ podium; Vinyl Scratch.

"So this is what she meant when she said 'the night shift,'" Twilight muttered with a small smile.

Something was slightly off about all of this, though. Twilight knew that Vinyl Scratch wasn't the only reason she was here. She felt a pressing need to cross through the nightclub crowd towards one of the walls. She did so, snaking her way between the ponies until she reached the outside of the dance floor. There, leaning right against the wall where she had been headed, was another familiar, though uncommon, face.

"Cheese Sandwich?"

The stallion looked up at her from beneath his cowboy hat, opening his eyes. His tough disposition evaporated as he saw who had addressed him.

"Princess Twilight?" he said, not believing his eyes. Then, he lit up with sudden joy, scarily similar to how Pinkie Pie could, "Well, howdy-doo, Princess! I haven't seen you since Rainbow Dash's Annibirthaversary! What brings you here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Twilight said, raising an eyebrow. "What brings you here?"

Cheese grinned widely, before popping up right beside Twilight.

"I think," he began as he started pushing her along, "we have some catching up to do!"

Twilight, surprised to find herself being pushed across the floor, couldn't form a coherent reply. She was distracted by the scraping sound of her hooves sliding along the floor, and the lack of a reaction from other ponies. The lack of reaction meant one thing; she and Cheese were both still in the Bassment. Soon, Cheese pushed her into one side of a booth that she hadn't noticed.

"I'll go get the ketchup," Cheese proclaimed. As he turned away, his voice grew deadly serious, "and then the ketching up will begin."

Twilight had never imagined she would meet another pony quite as crazy as Pinkie Pie. But as she watched Cheese Sandwich walking away, she realized he might be the competitor.

"No wonder she likes him so much..." Twilight muttered, shaking her head a bit. "They're perfect for each other... two crazy, random, party ponies."

Cheese Sandwich soon returned, carrying a hot dog stuffed full of ketchup packets in one hoof, and a mug of a brown liquid in the other. He bounded into the booth with a crash, as he slid the glass of liquid across the little table, and Twilight caught it.

"That's for you," he informed her, as he began pulling all the ketchup packs out from every nook and cranny of the hot dog bun. Twilight looked at the brown liquid, and tested it with her tongue.

"Root beer?" she said, surprised, but pleased. "How'd you know I like root beer?"

"You drank about three barrels of it at the Annibirthaversary," Cheese Sandwich replied. "Hoo-wee, I've never seen a pony drink so much root beer so fast! You ran me dry of the stuff!"

Twilight gave an embarrassed little laugh, and took a sip of her glass. It was just as good as the last time she'd had it.

"In all seriousness, though," Cheese Sandwich began, his face darkening and his voice lowering, "when did you die? The last time I saw you, you definitely weren't a Basement customer."

Twilight told him about the Death Hole, how she had examined it thoroughly, how she had been fatally wounded and then fell down, and how Pinkie had taught her everything about it. To her surprise, Cheese Sandwich didn't crack a single joke. In fact, he didn't say a word. He just sat and listened to Twilight's explanation until it was finished.

"That sounds about right," Cheese said. "It looks like you're a full-time Basement customer."

"It looks like you are too," she pointed out. "It's your turn. How did you find the Basement?"

Cheese took a bite of his ketchup-slathered hot dog, closing his eyes and chewing it slowly. When he swallowed it, he opened his eyes, and stared at his plate.

"It happened when I was just a child, during my wanderings. I hadn't found anyplace to go, anywhere I belonged. I felt... worthless. I decided the world didn't need somepony like me, and I decided to get out."

Twilight breathed in sharply, covering her mouth with a hoof. She knew what he had done without him having to say it.

"I stumbled across the hole in the ground as I looked for a place to do it. I stabbed myself through the heart, and in case that didn't work, I jumped into the hole as well. When I woke up, I found myself back home. My knife was gone. My heart was beating. I was alive."

"Oh my gosh," Twilight said, eyes watering. "I'm so sorry, Cheese Sandwich."

"To tell the truth," Cheese said, still staring down at his hot dog, "I was still in the Basement when I stumbled into Ponyville. It was Pinkie throwing Boneless at me that brought me back upstairs. I didn't only discover my love for partying that day. I discovered a reason to remain alive."

They sat in silence for a while, the party around them and the notes of the music becoming white noise to them. Though his childhood was rough, Twilight would never have guessed Cheese Sandwich to be a pony who had attempted to take his own life. He had never seemed down in his time in Ponyville. Did everypony who discovered the Basement have a similar story? And if that was the case, what was the story behind Pinkie discovering the Basement?

"But why are we talking about that," Cheese said, suddenly smiling brightly, "when there's a good party happening around us?"

Cheese Sandwich picked her up, and as Twilight yelped slightly, he quite literally threw her into the partying crowd.

Author's Note

Yeah, kind of depressing towards the end there.

I actually debated giving this story a Mature rating solely because of the suicide. And just so you know, suicide is a common theme for the few who have discovered The Basement. I don't know if that warrants a Mature rating or not. Shadow doesn't think it does, but I did end up putting a Gore tag on this story just in case.

I want to know what you guys think. Does suicide warrant a Mature rating or not?

Anyway, moving past that, I know I took a while to write this chapter, so I hope it was worth it. In this chapter we had:
Pinkie breaking the fourth wall
A Tales of Symphonia reference (if you caught it, then you're awesome)
A Star Trek reference
And we discovered Twilight is a closet Nightclubber.

Next chapter, I shall leave you in the capable hooves of Shadow. No idea what he plans on doing, but I'm sure it'll be great. Later all!

-Sky

Realization!

A generic rooster crowed as the first rays of morning brokethe horizon, showering over Ponyville to wake its inhabitants, some more begrudgingly than others in their awakening.

Of course, Twilight in particular wasn’t affected until hours later, when the cascade of sunlight coming through her windows had finally bested her. Yawning to herself, she got up from her bed, a faint smile still on her face from last night’s partying. After all this business with Pinkie, Cheese, and the Basement, she had really needed a night of fun ease away the growing unease she had felt about it.

Her stomach growled slightly in declination, making Twilight blush a bit. “Maybe drinking that much root beer wasn’t such a good idea... I'd better tone down on the stuff,” she snickered as a funny thought came to mind, “otherwise I might be in the same boat as Celestia and her love for cake.” She didn’t dare call it an obsession, for fear of disrespect towards her old mentor.

Suddenly, the door to her room opened, and Spike poked his head inside, a look of worry on his face. “What was that about Celestia and cake?”

Twilight waved a hoof dismissively, “Oh, it’s nothing Spike.” She yawned again. Thinking back, she hadn’t returned to her castle until very late last night, so she felt a bit sleep-deprived. But that wasn’t something a little nap between royal duties couldn’t fix, right?

Speaking of royal duties, I missed a lot of appointments yesterday. I'd better work harder today to pick up the slack… even if it means putting my research on the Basement on hold for a while. The princess glanced back over to her assistant, “What time is it anyways?”

“Almost Noon,” Spike deadpanned.

Twilight’s eyes shot open, her pupils the size of pinpricks, before she teleported off of her bed right in front of Spike’s face, “Oh, no! Did I miss something today? Any appointments or court meetings?”

Spike blinked at her in surprise, since her reaction to missing appointments now was a complete turnaround from last night’s. He wasn’t sure if should be concerned or not. He put his arms up to hold the purple alicorn at bay, “Whoa, Twilight, don’t worry! You know today’s schedule. You don’t have anything for another hour, so you haven’t missed a thing.”

Twilight felt her left eyelid twitch, before facehoofing herself, “Oh, right. Now I remember. I have an appointment with the Overseer of the Equestrian Crown Jewels today at one.” She silently nickered to herself in annoyance, I haven’t paid much attention to my schedule since I learned of the Basement. I'd better rectify that soon as well.

She glanced at Spike’s face, the little dragon wearing a concerned expression. “Um, Twilight? Are you okay?”

At his question, Twilight subconsciously winced while keeping a stoic demeanor. She wasn’t sure if she was fine herself, what with constantly jumping back and forth between the Basement, but that was only a technicality issue. But for sure, she didn’t want Spike asking too many questions for fear of him learning about the Basement.

Twilight quickly him a reassuring smile, “It’s okay, Spike. I’ve just been a bit… er, stressed lately.” Inwardly, the mare silently hoped her work towards perfecting her comforting smiles, like Celestia’s, had paid off.

To her satisfaction, it seemed to work. After a moment of consideration, Spike nodded before smiling, “Okay, then. How about you get ready for the day? Lunch is almost done, and I’ll have it ready for you by the time you come down.”

Twilight smiled at the little drake, even if she had to consciously ignore the fact that she was eating lunch instead of breakfast. She hated waking up late, since that left less time for her to do things in the morning. “Thank you, Spike.”

“Yeah, no problem!” Spike closed the door, leaving Twilight to the sound of his footsteps traveling down the outside hallway.

Once Spike was out of hearing distance, she sighed to herself, “Maybe one day I’ll have to tell Spike about the Basement, but hopefully I won’t ever need to.” She began making her way towards the bathroom for a shower, “There’s something more to that ‘place’ than everyone’s telling me, or maybe they just don’t notice it. Either way, I don’t want Spike getting caught up in something like this.”

_________________________________

An hour, and a hefty lunch to make up for missed breakfast, later, Twilight and Spike found themselves in one of the castle’s sitting rooms. Twilight made herself comfortable on a couch, a little coffee table in front of it, with two arm chairs sitting on the other side of it, while Spike stood at attention off to the side, ready to let the appointment begin.

After finding a dignified position to sit in, Twilight looked to Spike, “Okay, this appointment is with the Overseer of the Equestrian Crown Jewels, correct?”

Spike nodded, “Yup. Would you like me to send him in?”

“Yes, thank you, Spike,” Twilight smiled, watching the little dragon waddle out the door.

Moments later, an earth pony stallion walked through the door into the sitting room. He had chestnut colored fur, as well as a white mane tinted slightly in blue. He was dressed much like the typical Canterlot noble, a formal vest and fancy tie, though the way he carried himself as he trotted forwards to the princess showed that he was not at all like those haughty, snout-to-the-air snobs. He carried a more respectful manner in his gait, to show he wasn’t trying to impress anyone. His cutie mark was clearly visible; a perfectly cut diamond.

When the stallion reached Twilight, he stooped into a bow. “Princess Twilight, it’s an honor to make your acquaintance. I am Clear Cut, the Overseer of the Equestrian Crown Jewels.”

Twilight smiled politely, “No, the honor is mine, Mr. Clear Cut. Celestia must hold you in high regard if she trusts you to watch over the crown jewels.”

Clear Cut chuckled at that, “Oh, she does, among other things.”

Twilight gave a snicker, before gesturing towards an arm chair sitting across from the couch she sat on, “Please, take a seat.”

Clear Cut complied, sitting himself down on the seat, upright and alert.

At that moment, Spike entered the sitting room again, carrying a tray with him. On it was a steaming teapot of tea, as well as some other small treats, “I got the tea!”

As Spike set the tea tray on the coffee table, Twilight thanked him, before pouring herself a cup, as well as offering Clear Cut a cup, which he graciously accepted. Spike poured himself a cup as well, before sitting down on the couch next to Twilight.

Twilight sipped her tea, with a small sigh at the sharp taste, before looking back to her visitor, “Now, Clear Cut, what business brings you to Ponyville?”

Clear Cut nodded, muttering mostly to himself, “Straight to the point, I see. I like that in a ruler.” He smiled, taking another sip of tea, “Very well, your Highness. You see, as the Overseer of the Crown Jewels, I wish to let the public see more of our country’s prized treasure. I wish to put the gems out on display in Ponyville’s local museum, so the locals here may get a chance to see them for themselves.

“However, I am not here to ask for your permission to let the gems be put on display, as Princess Celestia has already approved of it.” Clear Cut’s expression drooped slightly, more grim than before. “The reason I came to you today is of another matter, one of the gems’ security.”

That piqued Twilight’s interest, “Their security?” She tapped her chin in thought, “You’re worried that the jewels might be stolen when they are put out for display?”

Clear Cut nodded, taking another sip of tea. “Are you aware of the thief known as Silent Snatch?”

Twilight nodded slowly, “Yes. In fact, Princess Celestia sent me to the Castle Everfree to look for any sign of him there.”

“Then you must know of his infallible tactics thus far,” Clear Cut said. “Breaking and entering without creating a single opening to get where he needs to, suddenly appearing out of thin air, yet without tripping a single security spell or magical ward. Tracking spells following his footsteps before they suddenly come to a halt outside a doorway. And let us not forget his famous calling card; ‘Come find me at the End.’”

He took a sip of tea again, before sighing, “His methods are constant, yet no one has figured out how he manages to do things like this. Many ponies think this is a form of magic that has never been heard of, while other believe that he is simply skilled at theft.

“But this is why I have come to you, Princess Twilight.” Clear Cut set his cup down on the coffee table, clearing his throat, “I was hoping that you might personally help us to prevent any theft that Silent Snatch might make. With your expertise in magical phenomena, as well as your experience with… er, our country’s troubles,” He nervously chuckled at that, making Twilight sigh inwardly in annoyance, “It’s my opinion that you would no doubt be able to help capture the Silent Snatch in the act, should he ever come near the crown jewels.”

Twilight nodded in understanding, The Silent Snatch… it would be very challenging to try and catch him, or prevent him from stealing the jewels, seeing as none of the royal guard were able to do it. But just maybe, my friends and I will be able to pick up the slack. A certain changeling invasion came to mind, Come to think of it, we seem to do that a lot.

Putting aside that thought for a later conversation with her Prince/Captain brother, Twilight gave Clear Cut a smile, “Very well. I will see what I can do.”

Clear Cut beamed, before giving her a slight bow from his seat, “Thank you, Princess. I have no doubt that the jewels will be safe with you around to help guard them.”

Satisfied, Twilight took another sip of her tea, “I look forward to it. It will be interesting to find out just how this Silent Snatch has been able to commit these nationwide thefts. When do we start?”

“We will need to meet again to come up with a plan. Perhaps noon tomorrow at the Ponyville Museum?”

Twilight glanced towards Spike next to her, who had already pulled out a scroll with the next day’s schedule. After inspecting it for a moment, Spike nodded in confirmation, “Yep, looks like we have the time.”

Twilight smiled, turning back to Clear Cut, “We will be there on time and with a strategy in mind.”

Clear Cut nodded in gratitude, before hopping off the arm chair, “I cannot thank you enough, Princess. I must go and inform my subordinates of this.”

Twilight nodded to the stallion, “You’re welcome, Clear Cut. You may return anytime to speak with me if something else comes up concerning the jewels."

Clear Cut gave one final bow and turned to walk out of the sitting room.

Once the door shut behind the earth pony, Twilight hopped back onto her hooves, glad that this appointment had gone smoothly.

Spike was right behind her, curiosity written across his face, “So, wait, Twilight. How are you going to catch someone like the Silent Snatch? From what everyone says about him, isn’t he supposed to be uncatchable?” He pulled a newspaper from nowhere, holding it up for Twilight to see. It was that morning’s issue, yet the elusive thief had still made the front page. “Everyone’s even going so far to say this guy isn’t even a pony! They’re saying he’s actually a ghost!”

Twilight rolled her eyes, “Spike, how many times have I said it? Ghosts aren’t real. Even if they were, the Silent Snatch isn’t a ghost. For one thing, specters would leave traceable hoof prints on the ground.” For a moment, Twilight paused in thought, Although, nopony’s hoof prints could suddenly end in midair, unless the thief is a unicorn who can teleport. But that isn’t the case, since none of the wards in place detected any magic being used in the room.

Clear Cut’s words echoed through her mind.“Breaking and entering without creating a single opening to get where he needs to, suddenly appearing out of thin air, yet without tripping a single security spell or magical ward. Tracking spells following his footsteps before they suddenly come to a halt outside a doorway. And let us not forget his famous calling card; ‘Come find me at the End.’”

Twilight frowned to herself, The tracking spells followed his trail until they stopped outside a door. From the sound of it, it sounds like this guy just disappeared when he walked through it…

…unless…

Twilight’s eyes shot open in realization, “Oh, no! It couldn't be that, could it?”

Spike yelped a bit at her sudden outburst, “It couldn’t be what, Twilight?”

Twilight ignored the little dragon, muttering to herself, “Suddenly appearing out of thin air, without teleportation to set off an alarm from the wards, and then disappearing through a door again?!” She shook her head, “I can’t believe it! Why didn’t I see it sooner?!” She took off in a gallop to get out of the castle.

Spike shouted after her, “Twilight! Where are you going?”

“To find Pinkie Pie!” Twilight replied, before slamming the door to the sitting room behind her. To herself she thought, She’ll know what to do.

______________________________

Pinkie Pie bounced along happily through the streets of Ponyville, cheerily humming to herself, “Mm-hm-hm! Gonna eat lunch with my friends! Mm-hm-hm! Lots of berries I shall blend!” She stopped humming to gasp, all while still bouncing, “Ooh, that was a good rhyme. I’ll save that for the next time everypony starts singing at the drop of a hat.” She giggled to herself, “But that’s silly! Why would anyone drop their hat? Obviously anypony who actually wears a hat wouldn’t let it drop on the ground, because then it wouldn’t be as fancy as it was before when it was on their head!”

Soon the pink pony pronked all the way to her desired location, an outdoor café where two of her bestest friends in the whole wide world were waiting. She called out to them in sing song fashion, “Oh, RARITY! FLUTTERSHY!”

The two in question turned to see Pinkie Pie bouncing towards them. Rarity waved her over, “Hello, Pinkie, darling! It seems you’ve accepted our invite for lunch.”

Fluttershy quietly added, smiling, “I’m glad you could make it, Pinkie.”

Pinkie hopped into a seat at the table, “Well, I couldn’t just say no to the invite. After all, I spent all of yesterday with Twilight, so there’s plenty of Pinkie to go around to all of my friends!”

“Well, that’s good to hear, darling,” Rarity smiled. “We were just about ready to order.”

“Ooh, I know what I want!” Pinkie chimed, "I want a super-delicious-yummerific-" Her eyes suddenly went wide as her tail began to twitch uncontrollably. Uh, oh. Twitchy Tail, with the spasm tingle! That means-

“Alicorn incoming! Hit the deck!” Pinkie shouted as she pulled a green camo helmet out of nowhere, plopped it on her head, and dove under the cover of the café table.

Rarity’s and Fluttershy’s eyes went wide, “What?”

Their inquiry was answered when a magenta blur came sailing out of the sky, hitting the dirt hard and sending a plume of dirt skyward upon impact. Moments later, the dust settled, revealing a gasping Twilight standing in a mini crater in the ground, as well as a stunned Fluttershy and Rarity, who were covered head to tail in dust from the impact.

Twilight’s expression looked frantic, but she winced slightly as she saw her friends covered in dirt, “Whoops, sorry girls. Have either of you seen Pinkie Pie around?”

At that moment, said earth pony slipped out from under the table into a perfect guard salute, “Private Pinkamena Pie, reporting for duty, Ma’am!”

Twilight ignored the pink pony’s antics for once, “Pinkie, can I speak with you privately? It’s an urgent matter about…” She glanced back at Rarity and Fluttershy, who were still a bit stunned from the explosion of dirt in front of them, “… er, you-know-what.”

“Oh, you mean the basement?” Pinkie blurted, “Sure, lead the way, Twilight!” before bouncing away from the table giddly.

Twilight simply facehoofed, “So much for subtlety.” She glanced back towards Rarity and Fluttershy, giving them a sheepish look, “Sorry about that! I’ll see you girls later!” The alicorn then turned away, following after Pinkie.

Meanwhile, Rarity and Fluttershy blinked in surprise, before glancing at each other in confusion.

Rarity looked at her dust-covered self, “Er, if it’s all the same to you, Fluttershy darling, I think we should postpone lunch until we clean ourselves up.”

Fluttershy sneezed (adorably), blowing a little dirt out of her nose, “*choo!* Um, agreed.”

___________________________________

Twilight glanced towards Pinkie as they walked abreast each other through Ponyville’s roads, speaking quietly, “Pinkie, we have an emergency concerning the Basement.”

“What is it?” Pinkie whispered back.

“Have you heard of the Silent Snatch?”

Pinkie gasped loudly, forgoing any acts of silence unlike she had before, “Oh! You mean that meany-pants thief who takes peoples jewels like the Royal IRS?!” She instantly dropped her voice down to a whisper, “Yeah, what about him?”

Twilight fought the urge to facehoof, ignoring the odd looks other ponies were giving the duo due to the pink one’s outburst. Instead she just nodded, “Yes, Pinkie.” She glanced around to see if anyone was close enough to hear her, “You see, I think the Silent Snatch is using the Basement to steal.”

”WHA-“ Twilight instantly shoved her hoof into Pinkie’s open mouth with no mercy, a bemused expression on her face.

Pinkie blinked at the action, giggling sheepishly as she withdrew Twilight’s hoof from her mouth, “Hehe, oops. I mean WHAAAAT!”

Twilight rolled her eyes in amusement at the fact that Pinkie could mute her screams without making them a whisper. Of course, that didn’t last long, before both hers and Pinkie’s tails started twitching.

Twilight’s eyes widened as both mares shouted, “Twitchy tail!” Both of them instantly looked upwards, only to find nothing up above them but open sky, not even a cloud visible. But Twilight suddenly became aware that a few ponies were watching her, all the while her tail was still twitching.

A nervous bead of sweat rolled down Twilight’s face, as she quickly hid her shaking tail behind Pinkie’s body, Uh oh, I can’t let anypony see my tail twitching too! Everypony already knows about Pinkie Sense, but what’ll happen if they see that I can suddenly do it now too?! What do I do?! What do I do?!

“Psst, Pinkie.” Twilight whispered, “How do I make the twitching stop?! I can’t let anypony see that I have Pinkie Sense too."

“Twilie Sense,” Pinkie corrected.

“Whatever. What do I do?!”

“Start dancing.”

“What?!”

“Do it!”

Without a second question, Twilight the alicorn princess got on her hind legs and began doing an impromptu tap dance. To her relief, her twitching tail instantly halted, just in time as a cyan-rainbow blur came screeching out of the sky, slamming onto the ground before them.

Rainbow Dash perked her head up, “Oh, hey Pinkie Pie, Twilight… um, huh?” She raised an eyebrow at the alicorn, “Um, Twilight? What are you doing?”

Twilight blinked for a moment, not even realizing until then that Pinkie’s tail had stopped twitching, as the falling object predicted had been Rainbow Dash herself. Twilight stopped herself short, before falling back onto all fours again, a sheepish smile on her face, “Oh, um… nothing?”

Rainbow blinked in confusion, before shaking her head, “Well, whatever helps you sleep at night. Anyways, catch you girls later.” With that, the pegasus took off to the air again, since that small visit/pass-by had turned out weirder than she had thought.

Twilight simply sighed as Rainbow left, glancing back at Pinkie, “Seriously, the way to counteract Pinkie Sense is dancing?!”

Pinkie bounced as she nodded, “Mm-hm!” She giggled, “Now, what were you saying about a thief in the Basement?”

Author's Note

Hey, guys! Shadowflame here, the more comedic-tuned co-author of this fic! Anyways, as a few of you might have noticed, Sky has been a bit ‘off-the-radar’ on Fimfiction, as well as everywhere else save for Twitch. But now that my chapter of this is finally up, hopefully he’ll be getting back to writing soon. I certainly hope he finishes the next chapter soon, ‘cause I want to see what he does next for the plot line. (Not that kind of plot, sickkos!)

Anyways, thanks for reading!

-Shadowflame