Mischief Makers

The four friends all stared wide eyed at the spot where Games Master had just been. Above them the clock made a quick and aggravating ticking noise, which seemed to snap them back to the present. Uneasily Applejack, Pinkie, and Twilight all turned to look at Rarity.

“I guess you’d better go.” Twilight spoke finally.

“I suppose I should.” she said before looking at the squares in front of her. The entire room had four squares from one end to the other, alternating in the white black pattern of chess. Rarity brought a hoof to her mouth and pondered her move. One one hoof I could move two squares and get halfway across the board, but most likely the obstacle would be an increased challenge. Above her head the clock continued its ticking, now faster and even more infuriatingly annoying. “Very well, I’m going.” Almost immediately the clock slowed down and returned to its normal rhythm. Can’t a lady get any time to think? She wondered as she delicately placed a hoof onto the first black square in front of her.

There was a shifting sound from behind her and Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie all gasped in surprise. Looking over her shoulder Rarity could see that the squares they were standing on had risen from the ground to form raised platforms.The other squares began shifting as well. Some rose like the three behind her. Some fell and made pits in the floor. Some slit across the room to join with other squares. Pretty soon the room was an almost mountainous pathway of rises and falls.

“Are you alright?” Rarity called.

“We’re fine Rarity.” Applejack called back.

“Ooo, what’s that thing?” Pinkie asked, pointing a hoof behind Rarity. The white unicorn followed her hoof and saw a small minecart big enough for a single pony to fit inside rolling along. Attached to the front of it was a small sheet of paper, which Rarity took in her magic and read carefully.

“Ripped from my mothers womb, beaten and burned. I become a blood thirsty slayer. What am I?” Rarity looked up from the paper and huffed. “A riddle? Honestly you’d think they’d do better.”

Above her head the clock flipped its face inside its body, revealing another face with normal hands and numbers on it. They started at twelve and began slowly rotating around the face. To make the scene even more enjoyable for the three ponies on the sidelines, clockwork pones walked around the rim in tune with the ticking hands. Rarity noticed this and sat down to ponder the riddle.

“Hmm, what could it be?” she pondered the question in her head. Mothers womb...beaten...burned.....slayer? The clock was halfway done its rotation and still she was no closer to the answer. Desperate for anything that could her with a clue the white unicorn looked at the minecart.

“Rarity, you’re almost out of time!” Twilight called down to her.

Rarity looked up from the minecart and swallowed hard. Seconds before the hand completed its circuit she gave her answer.

“Iron?”

Small compartments began opening on the sides of the clock, from which tiny copper bells slid out. The clockwork ponies made their ways over to them and began beating the metal with tiny hammers. Each strike released an odd assortment of sounds.

Rarity looked to the clock in confusion. “So...did I win?” As if in response the minecart shot forwards and scooped her up. She barely had any time to call out before the cart suddenly took off down a winding track. She ducked her head mere seconds before impacting with some form of switch that had jettisoned from the wall. The cart plowed into it, the force easily flipped it over to the reverse side and opening a hidden door in one of the tile-formed mountains. There was a shifting sound as the tracks began moving towards this new destination. Rarity cautiously stuck her head out from the cart and beheld a long, rollercoaster like drop beyond the door.

“Wha-AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

The cart went plunging down the vertical drop so fast that Rarity was pinned to its back wall by the speed. The wind whipped at her face and scattered her mane. She couldn’t even open her eyes more than a sliver.

“Having fun?” a playful voice said to her right. With great effort Rarity turned her head towards it and was face to face with an upside down ocean. The cart began to straighten out and the wind died some, allowing her to widen her gaze. As she did, the ocean became two blue eyes on a happy green face.

“How is this fun?!” Rarity exclaimed.

“Well that part was just the beginning,” Games Master said with a giggle. “But this next one will be.” She then lifted up a miner's hat and slammed it onto Rarity’s head. Before the unicorn could blink she had vanished again, revealing a series of jumps in the track ahead. Each one rocked the cart and the screech of metal meeting metal was horrendous on her ears. After the fifth jump Rarity came upon a sharp left turn. The cart had to lift both its right wheels fully off the ground in order to clear it, tumbling Rarity onto the left side in the process. This time she had the hat to offer some protection. The cart straightened itself out for a brief second before performing the exact same motion with its left side.

Anger began to build in Rarity’s eyes as she once again went headfirst into the opposite side of the cart. When it cleared the next turn she rose to her hooves and channeled her magic. Her horn was soon covered in a bright blue glow that she extended all around the cart - and once done she willed it to stop. Instead, however, the cart went even faster than before and sent her flailing against it...again.

“Here comes the finally!” Games shouted from above Rarity. She had one hoof on her chessboard, which was somehow flying at the same speed as the cart was. “Brace yourself.”

Rarity opened her mouth to protest but what followed was a cry of alarm as she was once again descending rapidly. Luckily this one wasn’t as long as the first drop, but it had three times as many twists and turns. Her fabulous white coat was stained all over by bright pink bruises. She was just getting out of her latest daze when the cart unexpectedly came to a halt. In the blink of an eye Rarity was sent screaming out of the cart and towards an opening of light.

~~~

Twilight, Pinkie and Applejack could do nothing but watch as Rarity vanished into the mountain rising from the floor. As soon as she had disappeared into its depths the tiles all sank back into the floor. Soon it was like the mountain had never been, leaving the three ponies to wonder what was befalling their friend.

“What the hay just happened?” Applejack asked.

“I don’t know, but I hope it happens again. It looked like fun.” Pinkie responded. Suddenly her platform gave a small shift and she was lowered back to the ground. One of the clock’s faces turned to her and showed the face that had their faces on it. Now the hands pointed to her. “Oh goody, it’s my turn now!”

“Be careful Pinkie.” Twilight called down to her. The pink pony looked up to her friend and smiled.

“Don’t worry your pretty little head Twilight.” She scrunched her face into a serious game face and stepped onto the white square in front of her.

Instantly the four tiles around her lifted up, and small chips began forming in them as if an invisible chizzle was working on them. When it was done two of the tiles had a large happy face on them. The others had equally large sad faces. One in particular seems to be crying thanks to a large crack under its eye.

“Oh dear, that’s no good.” Pinkie looked around and saw Games Master flying above her with her chessboard in one hoof. Delicately she slid a pawn across the board and the crack began to mend. Once it was gone she breathed a sigh of relief and looked back to Pinkie.

“This challenge is pretty easy. These tiles will spin around you really fast and all you have to do is hit one. You win if you hit a happy face, and loose if you get a frowny,” she gestured to all four squares. “Ready?” Pinkie nodded vigorously. “Then let’s begin.”

Games Master flew above the tiles and spun her chessboard around her hoof. The tiles slowly began to rotate around Pinkie, but quickly gained speed. Faster and faster they moved, until the pink pony couldn’t even see the scenery around her.

“Wee, this looks like fun! So I can stop them whenever I like right?”

“Essentially.”

“Ok then.” Pinkie walked to the edge of the blurry wall and squinted with her eyes. Carefully she studied the movement of the blurs and waited. This was going to need precise aim and timing. After the twentieth rotation Pinkie stuck her hoof forward. She smiled happily as her pink hoof touched just below the smiley faces mouth, making it look like its tongue was sticking out.

“Good job Pinkie,” Games said happily as the tiles lowered back to their places in the floor. “Oh, and you might want to watch out.” With one last giggle she held up her board and teleported away as a hole opened up in the floor. Out of which came a screaming white blur that landed in front of Pinkie.

“Hey there Rarity, did you have fun?”

~~~

Fluttershy flapped her wings as quickly as she could in pursuit of the nearest square. Above her Rainbow was zooming after four squares of her own. Despite flying at her top speeds Rainbow still was just barely half a hoof away from them. Even her own square was slightly faster than her, or at least it was good at keeping out of her reach. it was frustrating to say the least, but the yellow pegasus did her best to keep a level head. Anger and frustration would only hurt her further.

“Keep going Fluttershy, we’ve almost got them.” Rainbow called as she dove for her squares.

“Well you’ve plenty of time,” Festivities called from the ground. Beside her was a small stack of four squares that the pegasi had caught. Or, rather, that Rainbow had caught. “The seed hasn’t even moved the topsoil. Though I’m not a gardener, so is that natural?”

While Festivities was wondering to herself Rainbow managed to get her hooves around one of the squares. It then froze in the sky and fell to the ground, landing perfectly with the others in the pile.

“Great job Rainbow.” Fluttershy called.

“You too Shy.” she replied with a happy look. Fluttershy looked back confusingly and followed her gaze. One of the yellow squares had brushed against her leg and was drifting over to meet its companions in the pile.

“I got one!?”

“Yeah, now lets get the rest!” a triumphant smile came over Rainbow’s face and she took off after her remaining three squares. Fluttershy turned back to her own square and found it flying around a watermelon stand. With a confident smile she took off after it.

“Ok, so you place the seed in soil rich in humus. Make sure the spot has plenty of sunlight, though indirect is best.” Festivities read from a gardening book, completely oblivious to the Elements. “Ok, I did those things, so the seed should be...Oh, I have to wait three to ten days for germination to begin.” She giggled and brought her hoof up behind her ear. When it came down it brought along her little black die. “Well that’s no good.” With a quick flick of her hoof the die went tumbling towards the spot where the seed was buried. It landed on a four. “Ok, you both have ten minutes to get the remaining honey.”

Ten minutes?! Fluttershy suddenly found her wings beginning to fail her and she lost precious speed. The square sailed just out of her hooves reach and sending her headfirst into a large mellon.

“You ok Fluttershy?” Rainbow called down.

“I’m fine.”The yellow mare lifted herself up and flashed her friend a smile. Fluttershy then spotted her square dancing around on the ground. Carefully she clambered from the mellons and made her way towards it. Once she was within flying distance, though, the square stopped its dancing. With a quick flip it took to the air again and went flying into the clouds.

Fluttershy swallowed hard and looked up after it. It had gained quite some height and was now resting between two clouds. To it’s right were the three others. Rainbow noticed them as well and dashed forward, her rainbow streak trailing behind her. She caught one of the squares off guard and it floated to the pile. She waited until Rainbow went in pursuit of her last two before finally flying after the dancing square.

~~~

Festivities looked up from her book and observed the two pegasi. A satisfied grin began to overtake her face as Rainbow caught another square and the one that Fluttershy was after twirled just out of her reach.

“Seems they’re close to winning,” She said, bringing a hoof up to stroke her mane. “Methinks we should begin sudden death, no?” she let out a happy giggle, which was joined by another that sounded more like a hiss. “You want to play too?”

Festivities brought her hoof away from her mane and it shifted slightly. As she did a small eel - just long enough to wrap around a pony’s hoof twice - poked its head out. It was purple like a lilac with bright pink eyes that seemed to glow slightly. A row of bright blue spines ran down its neck, the same color as its tiny teeth. It looked up to the pegasi and let out a hissing laugh.

“I’ll take that as a yes?” the eel nodded and she patted its head affectionately. “Ok Freddy, you can play. But remember, no draining.”

The eel nodded happily and flung itself from her mane. Its eyes glowed brighter and instead of falling to the ground it hovered in the air above her face. It gave Festivities one last lick of affection before flying off into the air after the pegasi. All while Festivities watched with a playful smile.

~~~

Eclipse walked up the stairs that lead from the Yellow Sun Corporations lower levels to the highest ones. His destination was the Alpha level, some forty flights away still. This didn’t bother him though, in fact he liked the long walk. It allowed him to think and plan about the readings that had been taken that morning - which he still held in his magic grip. He smiled with a perfect blend of anger and joy as he looked them over again; the magic levels and descriptions were perfect matches to the ones he was looking for. But why Ponyville of all places? What was there that would tempt them to reveal themselves after so long?

Eclipse shook his head and smiled. What does it matter why? They’ve been careless, and now this game will be over. The thought made his yellow eyes dance with joy as he finally reached the top of the stairs. Before him stood the large sealed door with a bright red A painted onto its surface. In its center was a small - hole shaped lock big enough to fit a unicorn's horn. He lowered his head and placed his horn into the lock and illuminated it. By the time he pulled his head back out the door had receded into the walls.

The Alpha level was nothing special, just a narrow hallway that lead to three separate rooms. Yet it was where the most crucial of the YSC’s experiments and designs were kept. Any wishing to access the floor had to go through security checks to make sure they wouldn’t steal information, a step Eclipse always felt was unnecessary time wasting. No thief would ever make it this far before getting caught. Still, it wasn’t his decision to make.

Immediately after the door fully opened two earth pony guards stood forward.

“I’m here to speak to Crimson Dawn.” Eclipse greeted them with a dry voice.

“Please state your business.” one of the guards said in reply.

“I am vice chairmen to this organization. I shouldn’t have to explain anything.”

“It’s standard procedure, sir,” the other guard spoke. “You know how imperative security is, especially on this level.”

“This is an urgent matter,” Eclipse said, his patients having ended a long time ago. “If you don’t allow me to pass-”

“That won’t be required,” another, more authoritative voice spoke from the room directly behind the guards. Both of them nodded and stepped aside. Eclipse smiled and walked past them as quickly as possible. The door before him was covered in crimson magic and opened for the grey unicorn, closing immediately after he entered.

The room was nothing special; rectangular and big enough for ten ponies to sit comfortably. The walls were decorated by artifacts of civilizations long past. A single desk carved of ebony sat in the middle, surrounded with computer screens that displayed the faces of ponies. And behind it sat another unicorn.

He was large and well built, with a sharp crimson coat. His mane - and the hair around his mouth and chin - had greyed with age. He wore a yellow suit similar to the one Eclipse had on, though his was green where Eclipse's was blue.

“We’ll discuss this more on a later date, gentlecolts,” The screens all simultaneously turned off and he turned to face Eclipse. “Are you going anywhere?”

“No sir.” Eclipse replied.

“Then please, take a seat.” he gestured to a chair next to his desk, which the grey unicorn sat down in. “So, what is this urgent matter you needed to show me?”

“One of our men picked up a large magical spike in sector twenty five, just above the town of Ponyville.”

“The Princesses protoje lives in that area, perhaps one of her spells has gone awry again.”

“No sir, I believe they are behind it.”

A somber feeling fell over the room as Crimson Dawn turned to look at Eclipse directly.

“Are you sure?” his voice was quiet, yet still authoritative. Eclipse passed the readings over to the chairmen, who read them over carefully. As he did, his face began expressing many emotions. Concern was a fairly prominent one. Finally after his third readthrough he lowered the papers. “And I suppose you want to take action?”

“If it please you, sir.”

He let out a long sigh. “Very well Eclipse, but remember to bring them back alive and unharmed. Is that clear?”

If any other pony were to tell Eclipse that he’s protest, but he held his tongue.

“Yes sir.”

Crimson Dawn leaned back in his chair. “Good. Now take as many men as you need and get down there as quickly as possible.”

"I'll need the code, sir," The ends of Eclipse's face formed a smile. "Only to be used in the most extreme of cases, of course."

Crimson eyed Eclipse inquiringly. He knew how strongly the vice chairmen was willing to go in order to achieve his goals. And yet, was there another option available to them? They might not have another chance like this for Celestia knows how long. So in the end he gestured for Eclipse to lean forward. Crimson closed the gap and whispered the word into his ear. He then retracted his head and a triumphant look appeared in Eclipses eyes.

"Thank you, sir. You won't regret this."