We GOTTA Get Twilight Back!
It was early afternoon in Ponyville, and seemed like a normal day except for one little detail: Nobody had seen Twilight Sparkle all day. One would think that the town would be in an uproar over their resident princess mysteriously vanishing, but no one seemed to care, as they merely went about their daily lives as if nothing had happened.
Rainbow Dash in particular was sitting in her cloud home reading the latest Daring Do novel. She gave a content sigh. "It sure is comfortable around here now that Twilight's gone." Suddenly, she looked up as a worried frown formed on her face. "I gotta get Twilight back. I GOTTA GET TWILIGHT BACK!"
She sprung out of bed and raced out of her front door, zooming over to Sugarcube Corner. She burst through the door and saw Pinkie Pie standing behind the counter. Pinkie noticed her and gave a wide grin. "Heya, Rainbow, what can I do for you today?"
Rainbow socked Pinkie in the face, knocking her to the floor. She pulled out a handgun, cocked it, and aimed it at Pinkie. "Gimme all the money in the cash register!"
Pinkie coughed and looked up at Rainbow. "Please...don't do this, Rainbow."
"But...But I gotta get Twilight back!" Rainbow yelled, her forearm holding the gun shaking and her eyes beginning to water.
Pinkie narrowed her eyes. "You know this is wrong, Rainbow. This won't bring Twilight back."
Rainbow gasped as the realization of her folly hit her like a ton of bricks. She tossed the gun aside and burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably. Pinkie stood up, walked over to her, and put a hoof on her shoulder. "If you want, I can show you the way."
Rainbow calmed herself as she wiped the tears from her eyes, looked up at Pinkie, and slowly nodded with a smile on her face. The two then rushed out of the bakery and headed towards the first carriage they could see. Rainbow undid the straps on the pony who was currently pulling it and tossed him aside, who cried "My hoof!" as he landed.
Rainbow then strapped Pinkie to the carriage and jumped into the passenger's seat. As Pinkie took off down the street, Rainbow pulled a megaphone out and spoke into it. "Ponies of Ponyville! We gotta get Twilight ba-"
Before she could finish, Pinkie crashed through the wall of Carousel Boutique, sending both herself and Rainbow flying forward and ruining the carriage. Rainbow picked herself up and performed an instantaneous Sonic Rainboom, flying into Rarity's office and leaving a burning hole where the door once was. "Rarity! You gotta help us!"
Rarity looked up just as Pinkie poked her head through the hole and gave a dainty smile. "Why hello, you two! How may I help?"
Rainbow grabbed Rarity by the shoulders and shook her. "We gotta get Twilight back!"
Rarity briefly looked startled, then scrunched up her face. "Ooooohhhhh, we gotta get Twilight back!"
Pinkie ran over to the other two and pointed her hoof towards the wreckage of the carriage. "We gotta go!"
Rarity gave a confused look. "But how?"
Rainbow put a hoof to her chin in thought. "We need some wheels..."
The phone at Sweet Apple Acres began ringing, and even though no one had picked it up yet, Rainbow's voice could still be heard through the speaker. "Applejack! Applejack! C'mon AJ, pick up!"
Applejack picked up the phone and spoke into it. "Howdy, Rainbow Dash! Ya wanna talk about apples?"
Rainbow shouted, "We gotta get Twilight-"
Just then, the universe realized that Equestria was not technologically-advanced enough to have telephones, and the phone vanished into thin air. A frown slowly formed on Applejack's face. "We gotta git Twilight back faster than Berry Punch during cider season!"
Applejack quickly strapped herself to her delivery cart, and with a shout of "Yeehaw!" took off towards town. She stopped in front of Carousel Boutique just long enough for Rainbow, Pinkie, and Rarity to pile into the cart, then continued on towards the other side of town, stopping in front of Fluttershy's cottage.
Rainbow poked her head out of the cart. "Yo, Fluttershy!"
Fluttershy opened her front door and stared at Rainbow with wide eyes. "I know. We gotta get Twilight back." She stretched out her hoof, presenting a small, metal key. "Here's the key."
Rainbow grabbed the key in her mouth and flew as fast as she could towards Twilight's castle, the others following behind in Applejack's cart. She landed in front of the door and inserted the key into the lock, causing the entire door to vanish in a puff of magic. As soon as the group entered the castle, they were overcome by a strange sense of vertigo. Rainbow tried to shake it off, but the world still seemed to spin around her as she slowly made her way up the stairs towards Twilight's bedroom. She slowly opened the door and peeked inside. "Twilight?" She looked at Twilight's bed and noticed a pony-sized lump bulging out from under the covers. Cautiously, she walked over to the bed. "Twilight? Are you there?"
Fluttershy gasped. "Wait, Rainbow Dash! That's not her!"
But she was too late. Rainbow pulled the covers aside and was greeted by a dimensional rift sitting on Twilight's mattress, giving an azure glow and a low hum. Rainbow slowly backed away in fear, but Rarity put a comforting hoof on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Rainbow. We're right behind you, darling!"
Rainbow gave a determined nod, then loudly gulped down the lump in her throat before jumping into the rift. As soon as she crossed the threshold, she could feel herself being tossed about like she was caught in a hurricane and heard the sound of rushing water. When she regained her senses, she found that she was in a meadow covered in flowers and rolling hills. Without a moment of hesitation, she started running forward. As she ran, she heard Pinkie's voice behind her. "Rainbow Dash! Whatever you do, don't look back!"
Rainbow looked back. "What'd you say?" She gasped as she saw her friends immediately turn to stone, then dissolve into dust, which was blown away by the calm winds. "No! No no no! NOOOOOOO!!!" She looked around frantically. "Where am I?"
Suddenly, her attention was caught by a purple glow in the distance. She used her hoof to shield her eyes and squinted to get a better look. She watched as a giant purple unicorn horn materialized in the sky, before the entirety of Twilight's giant head faded into existence. A giant book appeared beside Twilight's head, and she began laughing maniacally as she and the book advanced on Rainbow. Rainbow yelped and did her best to fly away, but Twilight quickly caught up with her and opened the book before slamming it down on Rainbow. Rainbow screamed in agony as she was pressed into the page.
"Rainbow Dash! Wake up!" Rainbow awoke with a start and found herself laying at the bottom of the staircase in Twilight's castle, and a confused-looking Twilight Sparkle standing in front of her. "Did you really doze off again? I've been trying to tell you that the latest issue of Daring Do just arrived."
Twilight levitated the book in question towards Rainbow, who took it in her hoof. She looked it over for a few seconds before giving an uneasy look. "Eh, I'll read it later."
She tossed the book over her shoulder, which landed right at the hooves of Starlight Glimmer. She looked down at it and gave a drawn-out thoughtful hum. "Y'know, I've never read this series before. Let's take a look at what all the fuss is about, shall we?" She opened the book to the first page and noticed that at the bottom of the page was a picture of Rainbow's face frozen in terror. Without changing her expression, she looked up, levitated a bottle of bleach over, and emptied the contents onto her head.
