Rainbow Castle

      A figure watched from the shadows. The ascend began as a slow crawl from the corner of a barricade in the Rainbow Castle. A strange creature, this thing was. He almost looked like some sort of imp. His claws slid out, razor sharp. The material was almost that of an eagle's talon. The tips of them glowed a radioactive green, dripping some sort of fluid that burned cloud as it landed. His tiny bat-like wings carried him stealthily through the air, allowing him to soar above the currently-stagnant Pegasus with ease. His slimy, fish-like lips curled back to reveal large, yellow, dripping fangs. He dropped slowly but surely, hovering right above Rainbow Dash. It was time to strike.

      The imp-like creature stretched out his large talons. Rainbow Dash heard a small clip of keratin fibers clinking, as if somepony tapped their hooves together. She whipped her head around, but it was too late. The creature thrust its hand at Rainbow Dash's neck, receiving a rather displeased noise come from the Pegasus' throat. Her eyes turned wide as she stared the creature right in its tiny, dilated eyeballs. Her instinct was to plead for her life, but she couldn't speak, let alone breath in her current predicament. Her wings went limp, but the creature held her in the air effortlessly. Its hands began to tighten around her neck, creating a gurgling noise which traveled from her lungs. Then, the creature adjusted its hands and plunged the talons into her neck. Rainbow cried in pain, squeezing her eyes shut as the talons dug deeper and deeper into her throat. Blood gushed from her wounds, small strings of her muscle beginning to squeeze out. And then, her eyes lost their sparkle, and she went limp.

      The imp giggled a maniacal chortle, tossing the Pegasus towards the cloud palace. Its job was done. It chortled one last time, zooming back into its place in the shadows.

      Rainbow Dash rubbed her head, shaking her mane around and tenderly feeling her sore neck. Was she stabbed in ten places at once? In the neck? No matter.

      Her friends had something very similar in mind for them.

      Rainbow Dash grinned. Her purple eyes lost their sparkle. Her expression hardened into one of no regret. A face of no remorse. A face of no loyalty. Her wings picked her up, blasting her back into the air. She turned tail to take off back to the Rainbow Castle. Her wings became a blur, a rainbow trailing behind her. She had some 'renovations' to do.

      ---

      "And then, as Daring Doo placed her hat back onto her head, she heard a deep rumble. A turn of her head is what saved her from the horrible fate of a rolling boulder. She began to dash in the direction of the entrance, Atrenia's Horseshoe rattling in her saddlebag. Freedom was in sight. She was about to slide outside the slowly shutting entrance when..."

      A knock at the door. Twilight Sparkle blinked and wrenched her head back to look at the window. Was that Rainbow Dash? Twilight got up from her sitting position, dropping the book gingerly on the table, receiving an exasperated groan from the baby dragon she was reading the book to. "Hurry, Twilight! I want to know what happens to Daring Doo!"

      Twilight giggled and waved a hoof at him. "Be patient! You can wait for your Daring Doo until I answer the door." Spike crossed his arms stubbornly, provoking Twilight to giggle, putting a hoof to her snout. "That's what I thought. Now wait there." Twilight trotted to the door, opening it with a bit of her magic and grinning at the rainbow Pegasus in front of her. "Hey, Rainbow! What can I do for you?"

      Rainbow Dash grinned and tilted her head, nodding. "Hey, Twilight! I just wanted to tell you that I finally finished the Rainbow Castle and you should come check it out! I'll bring everypony there! Just meet all of the others below my house in thirty minutes. I'm sure they'll all be there!" Before Twilight could even respond, Rainbow Dash waved and said, "See you there!" She blasted off, a trail of rainbow greeting Twilight as she blinked.

      Twilight grinned. The Rainbow Castle! Rainbow Dash had been building this for months! Almost a year, even! It has bound to be good! No, not good. Fun! Exciting! Excellent! Stupendous! Perfect! It has bound to be perfect! Twilight giddily clapped her forehooves together, dashing back to the Daring Doo book and shoving it into Spike's possession. He rose a brow at Twilight as she bolted out the door, leaving a quickly scribbled note on the floor. Spike shrugged and said to himself, "Silence is a virtue." He opened the book where Twilight left off, and kept reading.

      ---

      Within the thirty minute mark, Twilight Sparkle had set up a picnic blanket under Rainbow Dash's cloud house, thankfully not forgetting a book as she waited. Pinkie Pie bounced around, finishing a cupcake that she balanced on her nose as she flipped it upside down every now and again. Applejack snacked on an apple fritter as she sat on the picnic blanket, observing everypony. Rarity sat on the blanket as well, observing herself in a small mirror as she pulled the imperfections out of her hair with a brush. Fluttershy sat besides Twilight, reading from a book as well, but not the type of fiction Twilight read. It was more of a romance; it sure explained the slight blush that played across Fluttershy's muzzle ever so slightly.

      Rainbow Dash zoomed towards the five mares, Twilight's balloon trailing close behind her. Her expressionless eyes observed all of the ponies, nodding in approval. "So, is everypony ready to have some fun!?" All of the ponies cheered in glee, except for the shy yellow Pegasus, who gave more a mewl than a cheer and the refined white Unicorn who gave more of an applause than a cheer. Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight. "Hey. You guys will have to walk on clouds. Could you cast that spell that makes non-Pegasi able to do that?"

      Twilight Sparkle shrugged, and could only comply. Casting the spell on every pony, which took quite a lot of energy and time, she muttered, "This 'Rainbow Castle better be as awesome as you're saying it is." The end time of the spell casting was about two minutes in total, which means it took around forty seconds for every non-Pegasus pony to get enchanted.

      Pinkie Pie blinked and wiggled around, suddenly bursting into a laughing fit and falling onto the grass next to the picnic blanket. "Pff, Twilight, take this spell off of me it tickles so much oh my gosh no hahahaha! IT TICKLES, NOOOOOOO! DEAR CELESTIAAAHAHAHAAAA..." Pinkie trailed off, breathing heavily. She then got up with a zip and bounce of her hair, grinning wide. "It's gone! Let's go, everypony!"

      Applejack and Rarity stared at Pinkie as they all stepped into the balloon. Fluttershy took a liking to a corner of the balloon carriage and decided to sit there. Twilight shook her head as she helped a giggling Pinkie bounce into the balloon. Rainbow Dash adjusted the harness, and gave a mischievous grin to the group of mares. "First and only stop, The Rainbow Castle!"

      The rainbow Pegasus chuckled and muttered under her breath, "And no return flights are available."