Chapters Twilight Sparkle couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day to get out of the library and into the streets of Ponyville. The weather team had just finished clearing the last of the clouds, allowing Celestias sun to shine through and warm all it could touch. The soothing chorus of morning birds drifted down from the trees, and the smell of the blooming wildflowers made an overpowering aroma from which no creature couldn’t resist to sample. All of this combined left the residents of Ponyville with looks of pure happiness and cheer cemented onto their faces.
What better condition could a pony hope for to perform some early morning errands? For that was the exact reasons the lavender unicorn had left her library. The lavender saddlebag she had brought with her was neatly filled with ink bottles quills and rolls of parchment in one side. The other contained enough fresh produces to get her through the next week.
Walking alongside the unicorn was her young dragon assistant Spike. he currently had his face deep into the long checklist held between his claws, going over it for the second time to make sure they hadn’t forgotten a single item.
“Looks like we’ve finished everything Twilight.” he said after his search. “And we beat our old time.”
Excited by this Twilight looked to the Ponyville Tower for confirmation. The time showed 9:15, which was ten minutes faster than their previous run.
“Well it looks like we have some time to kill Spike,” Twilight said. “Feel like doing anything?”
Spike brought a claw to his chin and pondered while they continued to walk across the market square, which was fairly empty on this particular day. Twilight found this a tad odd, but it at least meant they got their work done sooner. Just as they were to leave something brightly colored bounces from out from hiding behind one of the stalls and landed in front of them.
“Hey Pinkie Pie.” Twilight said without any hint of surprise or shock in her voice. The pink pony walked towards the two with an excited grin on her face.
“Hey Twilight, hey Spike. Whatcha doin?”
“Not much.” Spike replied nonchalantly.
“Well that’s no good.” Pinke said. “Do you have any ideas?”
“At the moment Pinkie, nothing.” Twilight said. Once she had finished Pinkie sat down in front of the two and pondered for a moment.
“Oh, I have an idea, What if you come walk around town with me. We can say hi to everypony. And then when we’re finished we can go back to Sugarcube Corner!”
Twilight was about to nod in agreement when something cold impacted the joints where her neck and skull met. She brought a hoof up and collected the chilling substance. Bringing her hoof back Twilight was surprised to find she had been struck by a snowball. Pinkie and Spike both looked at her bedazzled face and tried to suppress their laughs. Suddenly another snowball fell down and landed on Pinkies face. This caused Spike to lose it and he burst out laughing before a third one impacted right into his mouth.
Now officially confused Twilight turned around and searched the area. Immediately she noticed two things. The first was a plain old table with two chairs carefully placed behind it. In its center was a bright red Closed sign. The other was a low flying cloud directly above it. On top of the cloud were two pegasi mares holding golf clubs in their hooves.
“You’re aim was way off on that one.” one of them said. “Perhaps you should tighten your grip?” She leaned on her club as her companion gave her a playful look.
“And when did you become a golf queen?” she replied with a giggled.
“Ahem.” Twilight said, getting the two mare’s attention.
“Looks like our break’s over.” The first one said. Both she and her companion raised their hooves as if they were sinking and fell straight through the cloud, landing perfectly on two chairs behind the table. Quick as a flash they took the sign down and made themselves look presentable to these new ponies. Now that Twilight could get a better look at the two she saw that they were both a brilliant shade of green with manes and tails the color of pine needles. Their facial features were also eerily similar to the point of identicality. It didn’t take a genius to realize that these two were twins.
“How may we help you miss?” the first one spoke. She had brilliant eyes as blue as the ocean. Her mane came down around her head and was jagged, like a spiny lizard frill. Her tail was short and also jagged, giving it an almost serrated look. Her cutie mark was a chess king riding in a chariot.
“Well, your snowballs sort of hit me and my friends.” Twilight said calmly. Both Pinkie and Spike walked up beside her and began wiping the snow from their faces.
“Oh, very sorry for that.” the blue eyes one then turned to her twin with a serious, yet still silly look. “I told you your aim was off.”
Her twin smiled a playful smile and looked at Twilight with fiery red eyes. Her mane was tattered and highly unkempt, most of it coming over her eyes like ridges. Her tail was long and equally as unkempt as her mane. Her cutie mark was a black die being tossed from a silver goblet.
“Sorry for that miss, like she said I’m a bad golfer.”
“It’s alright, and call me Twilight Sparkle. And these are my friends Spike and Pinkie Pie.”
The moment Pinkie laid her eyes on the twins she let out a long gasp and shot into the air. She remained airborne for a second before darting off. Both twins blinked in confusion at this odd behaviour before letting out a fit of giggles so hard that they rocked their the chairs.
“Sorry, she does that with all new ponies she meets.” Twilight reassured.
“Don’t worry Twilight,” the blue eyed one spoke once they had calmed down. “We’ve seen crazier.” She then extended a hoof which Twilight accepted friendly. “My name’s Games Master, but you can call me Games or GM for short.”
“And my name is Festivities.” her red eyed twin piped in. “Say, do either of you you like games?”
“What kind of games.” Spike asked with an inquiring eye. Festivities leaned back in her chair while Games Masters eyes seemed to explode with delight at the young dragons question.
“Any and all games you can think of, young one.”
“And even those you cannot.” her twin finished with a snaking smile.
“Wow, can we play one Twilight?” The little dragon looked to her with pleading eyes.
“Sorry Spike, but we need to catch up to Pinkie.” she then looked to the twins again. “You two should come by Sugarcube Corner later today.”
“We’ll see if we have the time.” Games said with a smile as the two sought out their pink friend. Once they were gone the two sat back and looked at each other with plans already forming in their minds.
~~
The sun had just begun its descent over the horizon when the emerald twins decided to leave their booth. It had been a boring day for them, with nopony coming by other than Twilight and her friends. As they prepared to leave, they both suddenly remembered the unicorn’s offer. And who were they to turn down such a gracious invitation? Silently the two of them agreed to take her up on it and headed off towards the bakery. They could have made the trip in minutes if they’d flown, but that’d be no fun. Instead they walked side by side down the calm streets and took in all the sites they could.
After about fifteen minutes they made it to the gingerbread house that was Sugarcube Corner and calmly knocked on the door in perfect unison. As their hooves made contact with the wood the door creaked open invitingly. Peering through the door they could both see that no lights were on and the place seemed deserted. Curiously the two stuck their heads inside and crept into the dark shop.
“Surprise!”
Immediately the room was bathed in light, illuminating around twenty ponies, all with large smiles on their faces. The walls were covered with streamers and balloons of all shapes and colors. In the middle of the room there were tables of drink and snacks. A record player rested on another table, just begging to be turned on. Finally a huge banner hung from the ceiling that read Welcome.
As the twins were still processing everything Pinkie Pie appeared between the two mares and placed bright green party hats on their heads.
“So, what do you think?” Pinkie asked with a gleeful smile. “Isn’t this the absolute best party you’ve ever seen?”
The twins looked around the room, inspecting every single detail from the placement and coloring of the streamers to the smiles on the individual ponies. After a second they turned back to each other, nodded, and fell back in a fit of giggles.
“I think they like it.” Twilight said, walking towards the two. They both looked up to her with playful eyes, but soon began focused on the four ponies behind her; an orange earth pony wearing a cowboy hat, a white unicorn with a stylized mane, a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane, and a timid yellow pegasus.
“Games Master, Festivities, these are my friends. Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.” Twilight said, gesturing to each pony as she did. Both of the twins eyes widened with surprise.
“Is something wrong?” Fluttershy asked the starstruck pegasi. Neither one showed any sign that they’d heard her at all and continued to stare at the group. Rainbow Dash walked over to the wo and waved a hoof in front of their faces. Again they were met with no response.
“Ok, this is starting to get a little creepy.” Rainbow said after another moment of staring.
“You’re the Elements of Harmony!” Games Master finally managed to say after a moment, causing Dash jumped back in surprise. Though she quickly tried brushing it off as if it were nothing.
“Yeah, and what of it?” Applejack asked curiously.
“We had no idea we’d moved into the same town as the ponies who defeated Nightmare moon and Discord!” Festivities cried, her eyes looked like they were flaring with inner fire. “Oh sis, we just have to do something amazing for these ponies.”
The party went deep into Luna’s beautiful night before the first ponies began to depart for their houses. By this time the moon was high in the sky and the stars were out in full force. The frogs had come in a chorus of chirps that flew down from their hiding spots to bless the night with their music. This beautiful display just furthered the ponies good mood as they entered their respective homes. One by one they each settled down for a good night’s rest, and began to drift off into the realm of dreams.
In Sugarcube Corner, however, the six elements of harmony were sitting on the floor in front of the pegasi twins. Between them were six red cups, each numbered in bright blue. Hidden under three of these cups were silver spheres no bigger than the space in a ponies hoof. For the past hour everypony had been trying, unsuccessfully, to locate each of them. Twilight and Pinkie had come the closest of the six, finding two orbs each. Now it was Rainbow’s turn.
The blue mare watched with determined focus as Games Master placed the individual balls on the ground. With a flurry of her hooves she covered each of the the balls with the cups and began shifting and sliding them around. Rainbow tried with all her might to focus on the individual cups, but the flashes of red and blue were too much. Finally Games Master stopped her hooves and rotated each cup so that the numbers faced her opponent. A friendly grin formed on her face as she lay back against her twin and waved her hoof.
“Go ahead Rainbow, make your selections.”
Rainbow blinked out of her near trance and concentrated on the cups. Her friends all sat around her and silently sent her their regards. After a moment's thought Rainbow decided to lift up the number three cup, which revealed the first silver orb.
“Good so far, now go again.” Games said, slightly more invested than before.
“Don’t rush me.” Rainbow replied before looking back at the five remaining cups. Carefully she lifted the number two cup, revealing the second orb. The others all gave her encouraging smiles as the all too familiar feeling of victory began to well up inside her. Games and Festivities noticed this as well, and the two of them looked at each other happily as Rainbow lifted up the number six cup. Sadly there was no orb to be seen.
“Oh, too bad Rainbow. You came so close.” Fluttershy said encouragingly to her defeated friend.
Rainbow looked up from the cups and saw the faces of the twins. Both of them were grinning like it was the best day eve. When they saw the look of disappointment on her face, however, their expressions changed to that of sympathy.
“What’s wrong Rainbow?” Festivities asked with a friendly smile. “Why do you look so bummed out?”
The rainbow mare was silent for a second before replying with a simple. “I lost.”
“Aw don’t feel too bad Rainbow Dash.” Games said, extending a friendly hoof. “It was all for fun anyway. Now if we were playing for an actual prize, then things would be interesting.”
Rainbow’s ear flicked in Games Master’s direction and she looked to the mare with interest and curiosity. “What do you mean by that?” She was met with a subtle grin from the green mare.
“Well me and Fest enjoy these little time wasters, but the real fun comes from our larger, more complex games.” Games said happily. “Those are where we can go all out and make some really fun challenges for ponies to try. And if you were to win, then there are wonderful prizes involved.”
Rainbow’s eyes began to grow with excitement, and her disappointed frown became a gleeful smile. The twins saw this and softly giggled between themselves as Rainbow turned back to her friends.
“Guys, we’ve got to try this. It sounds awesome, and we could win prizes!”
“I’m with Rainbow, it sounds like super duper fun!” Pinkie said, bouncing over to her friend's side. “Can we girls, please?”
“Yeah, can you?” Festivities pitched in, purposely making her eyes grow larger.
Twilight listened to what the twins said, and while it did sound interesting she wasn’t all too sure. They had only just met these ponies and knew so little about them. Still, their offer could be worth while.
“What do you think girls?” Twilight asked to her three undecided friends.
“I think it’s a wonderful idea Twilight.” Rarity said without a moments thought. “What harm could come from a little fun after all?”
“Ah’m with Rarity on this one.” Applejack said with an almost challenging smile. Twilight then turned to Fluttershy who responded with a soft nod of approval.
“Well if everypony else is for it who am I to say no?” Twilight said. Both of the twins grinned at her response and their eyes begin sparkle with happyness.
“Great! We’d better get things prepared.” Games said, scooping up all the cups in one hoof and the balls in the other. She tossed the balls towards Festivities, who caught them easily while looking in the opposite direction. “Come tomorrow everything will be ready. Then we can begin the game.”
“Where should we meet you?” Twilight called to the two as they opened the door to leave. They stopped for a second and turned back to her. While Festivities eyes were as playful as ever, Game’s seemed to show something else, something calculating.
“Don’t worry TwiTwi, we’ll find you.” Festivities said with a giggle. And with that she and her twin left the company of the six ponies before any further questions could be asked. It wasn’t long after their departure that Twilight suggested they retire as well. Bidding each other adieu each pony left for their respective houses.
~~
Twilight opened the door to the library and crept in as quietly as she could. All the supplies she’d bought had been placed neatly in their respective areas, courtesy of her number one assistant. The lavender unicorn gave an appreciative smile as she made her way up the stairs, taking care to be as quiet as possible. Sure enough when she got to the top of the stairs she found Spike sound asleep in his bed. She whispered a caring goodnight to the little dragon and crawled under her covers. The moment her head touched the pillow she was out like a light and whisked away into her dreams.
She was standing in the hallway the long, red carpeted hallway of the royal palace in Canterlot. The walls sparked in the sunlight and violet banners were strung up everywhere. The scent of lilacs hung heavily wherever she turned. Before her stood the massive blue double doors that lead into the princesses throneroom. Twilight didn’t know why but she had a strong compulsion to enter the room. So she lifted her head high and opened the doors.
Immediately she was blasted by the cheers and congratulations of dozens of voices. Gathering herself Twilight was shocked to see nearly a hundred ponies all standing on either side of the long room, divided by the red carpet. In the crowd were many faces she’s seen in Ponyville and Canterlot alike. All of them were calling and cheering Twilights name as she walked past them. She gave them all appreciative smiles and continued walking down towards the throne.
As she made her way up the short steps that lead to the throne she was greeted a majestic white figure larger than all the other ponies. Her brightly colored mane and tail seemed to flowed in an invisible wind and her face was kind and caring. The face of any good ruler. But Twilight saw something else in her eyes, the face of a mentor proud of her student. It was an uplifting sight to say the least, so much so that Twilight was practically glowing from it. She took one last look at Princess Celestia’s face and slowly closed her eyes.
The children are planning.
The voice was cold as it slithered into Twilight’s mind. She easily recognized it as the Princesses voice, but there was something about it. Something dark. Quickly Twilight’s eyes shot open looked around the room, causing her to let out a gasp of surprise. From every corner shadows were slithering out from hiding and wrapping themselves around the closest object. Whatever they touched became as black as night in their grip. The crowd of ponies turned to Twilight in perfect unison and looked at her with coal black eyes. Their bodies then began to flicker and and phase out of existence, and darkness crept in to take their places. Soon the stairs Twilight stood on became a secluded rock in a never ending sea of cold darkness.
As the creeping black began to claw at the steps below Twilight she turned back to her beloved mentor for guidance or assistance or anything to help her figure out this nightmare. But where Celestia had been standing there was now nothing but darkness, illuminated only by huge grinning white smile. Twilight let out a gasp of fright and backed away from the grin as quickly as possible. During her panic, however, her back left hoof ended up dangling over the edge of her sancious island. Immediately the blackness latched itself to Twilight’s hoof, and like a serpent it slithered over her body.
Twilight screamed and twisted her body, trying desperately to free herself. But every move she made seemed to further the twisting dark. The more it crept the more she felt her energy leave her. As it prepared to swallow her entire body, the dark voice that sounded like Celestia returned to her mind.
Best of luck Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight awoke from her sleep and shot up like a bullet, breathing heavily. A cold sweat was forming on her brow and trickling down her face. She brought a hoof to her chest to calm her agitated nerves, but it did little to help. If anything it helped her feel her heart beating rapidly as it moved up into her throat. Eventually she managed to calm down to some degree, and finally took notice of her surroundings.
She was no longer in her bed, or even the library. Instead Twilight found herself in the middle of a grove of apple trees, each of which was decorated with dozens of bright red apples ready for harvest. She looked around in confusion and slight fear; it didn’t take a genius to realize she was in Sweet Apple Acres. Quickly she got to her hooves and wandered out of the clearing. As she passed one of the trees, however, something large fell on top of her back. She could barely let out a grunt of pain before being pinned to the earth.
“Ugh, Twilight, is that you?”
In a dazed state of mind Twilight looked towards the sound of the voice and was face to face with a familiar blue shape.
“Rainbow Dash? What are you doing here?”
“I have no idea.” The pegasus replied, slowly climbing off of Twilight. “One moment I’m sleeping in my bed, dreaming of joining the Wonderbolds, and the next thing I know these shadows come clawing at me and wish me luck. Then I wake up on top of you.”
Twilight’s eyes widened in shock as Rainbow finished her story.
“I had a similar dream as well.” she said, shivering from the memory. Just then Twilights ears picked up a faint sound coming from behind her. Slowly she turned her head in the direction of the noise and moved towards it. Rainbow Dash must have heard the noise as well for she flew to her friends’ side. Cautiously they rounded the first few apple tree and jumped head first into a mass of orange and pink.
“Twi, Rainbow Dash, is that you?” the orange pony said after gathering herself. Before either pony had any time to respond, however, they were caught in a bright pink embrace.
“Twilight, Rainbow, I was so worried for you! I mean, first I was having this nice dream about a party, and everypony was there and we were having a great time. But then this funny voice that sounded like Mrs. Cake spoke to me. Except it wasn’t Mrs. Cake, it was all dark and hissy. Hisssssssssssssssssss. And the next thing I knew I was here, which was odd since I didn’t go to sleep here and-”
“Pinkie!” Rainbow cried, squirming her way out of the pink pony’s grasp.
“Oh, *giggle* sorry girls.” Pinkie said, quickly loosening her grip on the two mares. Rainbow Dash quickly took to the air while a puzzled look appeared on Twilight’s face.
“Wait, Pinkie, did you say you had a dream about some shadowy voice as well?”
“She ain’t the only one Twi.” Applejack said softly. “Ah was dreaming bout mah sister finally earning her cutie mark when all of a sudden this here voice was tellin’ me t’ prepare fer some game.”
“Did somepony say games?”
Immediately all four ponies whipped their heads around in confusion. The voice seemed to come from everywhere at once, yet it also seemed to have a close by source of origin. Whatever the case, they could all agree that it was a familiar sound.
“Who’s there?” Rainbow Dash said, a hint of anger and frustration growing in her voice.” Did you do this to us?”
“Indeed, but all will be explained when everypony is present.” Suddenly there was a faint gasp from between the four friends. When they turned around to look both Rarity and Fluttershy were standing with confused looks on their faces.
“Twilight, please tell me you know what is going on.” Rarity pleaded to her lavender friend. To her dismay, however, all she got back was a baffled and confused look.
“Ya ok Shy?” Applejack asked. The yellow pegasus was hiding behind her mane, quivering in shock and fear. She tried to respond to her friend, but the best she could achieve was a slight nod.
“You’re probably wondering what’s going on and why you have been brought here.” the voice said in a playful tone.
“Oh, I know who you are,” Pinkie said, jumping up and down in excitement. “You’re Games Master!”
In response to the pink pony’s statement the voice rose to a high pitched giggle, and sure enough the green pegasus moved out from behind the trees, a festive smile plastered on her face. Each of her legs was decorated with shining gold bracelets, each with a heavy sapphire fixed to them. They were as blue as her eyes and seemed to be specially cut and carved identically.
“What are you up to?!” Rainbow nearly demanded.
“Why, playing a game, dear Rainbow.” A voice said from behind her. “Why would we be doing anything else?”
Everypony turned to see Festivities resting comfortably on Rainbow’s back. Like her twin she had bracelets on her legs, but hers were a sparkling silver color and each was fixed with a different colored gem. The ones on her front legs were blood red rubies and pure black onyxes. Her back legs had brightly colored yellow and pink gems that were indefinable.
Rainbow Dash gave an annoyed grunt and flew out from under Festivities. To everypony’s shock, though, she continued to lean on the air as if something was supporting her.
“What is it,” she asked happily. “Do I have something on my face?” Quickly she brought a hoof to her face and wiped it across. When they continued to give her strange looks she cocked her head goofily.
“How are you doing that?” Twilight managed to say after a while.
“We’ll answer your questions later, but right now we have some rules to go over.” Games Master said eagerly. “We’ve gathered you all here to partake in a friendly game. My twin and I have in our possession seven cards that may or may not look familiar to you.”
With a wave of her hoof a stack of cards appeared. She removed the top one and tossed the other six in front of the six friends. Once they touched ground the cards stood upright and showed their face and each of the ponies. Each one displayed the pony’s cutie marks brightly, as well as on backgrounds that mimicked their coat colors. Games then held up her card for them all to see. It was green like her coat and decorated with chess pieces and dice.
“The game is simple, hidden around Ponyville are these cards. As you travel around town you will come across different challenges designed by yours truly. Win those challenges and you’ll either receive the card or help in some other way. But if you lose a challenge.” She paused for a moment to let out a fit of giggles. “Well, we’ll get to that when we get to that.
“Once you have all the cards in your possession, then you can try and win this one from me and Fest. And then it’s over, just like that, and we can discuss the prizes.” Games gave a small wink to the ponies, which caused her twin to laugh quietly to herself.
“And what if we refuse t’ play yer game?” Applejack asked, causing both twins to laugh in perfect unison.
“Sorry AJ, but you all agreed to our game back in Sugarcube Corner.” Games Master said happily.
“And once a game is started, it must be finished.” Her twin finished in a sing song voice.
Twilight let out a sigh and looked to the twins.
“And how do we know that you aren’t holding anything back from us?”
“Because that would break our own rules TwiTwi.” Festivities giggled. “So, are you going to start now?”
“Do we have a choice?” Both twins shook their heads happily. “Then yes, we will.”
Immediately both their eyes lit up with excitement and they flew above the ponies in a spiral motion. Once they were both high enough in the air they each held one hoof above their heads. Small green fires suddenly ignited and were promptly blown away by the wind. In their place now rested a chess board in Game’s hoof and a black six sided die in her twins. On both of their faces were looks of uncontainable glee.
“Oh we are going to have so much fun together!” Festivities cried, her red eyes looking as if they flickered with inner fire.
Games then held up her other hoof, in which a white pawn appeared. She slid it across her board and one by one the six cards by the pony's hooves began flying along with the wind towards town.
“And so the game begins. Good luck to all and remember to have fun!”
“Wait, why did you send us those freaky dreams?!” Rainbow Dash cried, but the twins either didn’t hear her or didn’t care to respond. Instead they touched their items together and vanished in a bright flash. In their place they left a small slip of paper for the stunned ponies with the following words.
Let the games begin and may the festivities commence
In the center of Ponyville sat the tower shaped town hall. At first glance it looked just as it did every other day, though perhaps with a few extra banners flying from its two circular balconies. Inside the building, however, was an entirely different story. The walls were decorated with shelves and rows of anything from houses of cards to miniature models of buildings arranged to look like a town. These even came with tiny pony figurines. All throughout the halls ran creatures that seemed to be made of rocks in the shape of tokens. In their hands they held all forms of boxes, which they were quickly unpacking large chess pieces from. Others were making large bridges of dice that small trains could cross with messages that spanned the entire building.
One such train made its way to the mayors office, which the pegasi twins had made into their own quarters. Games Master sat in the mayor's chair with her chessboard on the desk in front of her. She was carefully moving the pieces around into a specific arrangement when the train came along. Festivities -who had been kicking her die in the air and catching it - flew over to the train and lifted the message.
“Mistress, the Stone Tokens have finished the east wing.”
Games looked up from her board and flashed her twin a playful smile.
“Why do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Call me Mistress, you know I think it’s annoying.” Her twin let out a little giggle that caused Games to smile.
“Cause I know you don’t like it.”
Games let out a tiny laugh and went back to rearranging her board. Once all the pieces were in their correct places they sank into the individual squares. She leaned back in her chair and grinned as new pieces rose and the squares moves around. Soon she was looking at a three dimensional map of Ponyville and the surrounding areas. In one of these areas there rested six colored tokens that were moving towards the town.
“They’re making good time, should I go and entertain them?” Festivities asked enthusiastically.
“Yes you can Fest, but nothing too big yet. This is still the beginning.”
Grinning with delight Fest caught her die in her hoof and watched it light up. There was a bright flash and soon she was gone. Games sat back and watched the board. She had the utmost faith in her twin not to go overboard, but she still felt a little reminder here and there was needed.
~~
There was an uneasy feeling in the minds of each of the six ponies as they walked through town. After the twins had vanished a trail of breadcrumbs had appeared leading back to town and Pinkie had suggested they follow it. So they did and now found that the normally lively town had not so much as a single pony in its streets.
“What happened to everypony?” Rarity asked. ‘It’s almost like when Zecora originally visited town.”
“Do ya think those twins did sonethin’ t’ them?” Applejack asked, looking around some more.
“Oh, I hope they didn’t hurt them.” Fluttershy said.
“Where do you think they could be keeping them?” Rainbow asked as she flew above her friends. Even from the air there was no sign of life anywhere in Ponyville.
“I think the better question is how they did it in the first place.” Twilight spoke. “I mean, you all saw what they were doing back there right?”
“Yeah, there were doing all sorts of funny things.” Pinkie said happily.
“Exactly Pinkie, they were doing things pegasi shouldn’t be able to do. And did you see what happened when they they left? That was almost identical to a teleportation spell.”
“Aw, come on Twi, how can they use magic?” Rainbow asked. “I didn’t see any horns on them.”
“Yes Twilight, they were probably just using a bunch of smoke and mirrors.” Rarity pitched in.
“Yar mateys, it seems we’ve a few unicorn supremacists among us.”
Immediately all six of them began looking around for the source of the voice until there eyes fell onto three large chests. Sitting on top of them was Festivities dressed in a pirate vest with a red bandanna over her head and an eye patch over her left eye. As the ponies approached her she slid off of the chests and looked at them happily.
“Welcome mateys, to the first challenge of our little game. Behind me be three chests o’ loot, and ye’ll be allowed t’ open one.” She moves aside and gestures to them as their heavy iron locks fall to the ground. “One of em has a card for ye, one of em shall help ye in another way, and one of em has nothin’. And if ye pick that one, I get t’ make some changes.” She grinned after saying that.
Twilight let out an annoyed sigh and looked back to her friends.
“So, which of us should do this?”
“I”ll be the judge of that mayte.” Festivities reached into her coat and pulled out another eye patch and placed it over her right eye. “Look, I now be a double pirate. Yarr.” She then began walking around blindly until she bumped into Fluttershy. “Whoever ye be, ye be the one t’ choose.”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened with fear as she shrank back away from the double pirate mare, who proceeded to fall face first and giggling to the ground. She looked to her friends with scared eyes, hoping they could somehow help her. Twilight was the first to speak again.
“Well Fluttershy, you’d better do as she said.”
“B-but Twilight, what if I get it wrong?”
“I don’t know Fluttershy, but we’re going to have to play along if we want to get out of this game.” She looked at Fluttershy and gave her a supportive smile. One by one the rest of her friends did the same.
Fluttershy nodded to them and stepped towards the three chests. Her eyes darted from one to the other, but she couldn’t decide which to choose. That was until she caught something in the corner of her eye. The left chest seemed, different, almost like there was a small aura of some kind coming from it. When both of her eyes focused on it the aura vanished. She hesitated for a moment before finally decided to open the chest.
Immediately air was sucked into the chest like a vacuum, and the six ponies along with it. Each of them planted their hooves as firmly into the ground as they were able, and Rainbow flew desperately against the wind, but still they inched closer. Festivities then walked over to them with Iron shoes covering her hooves.
“Great job ye buccaneers. While ye didn’t get the card, ye did get the help. So now it’ll bring ye closer t’ the other cards.” She then let out a flurry of giggles and tossed her pirate outfit into Rainbow Dash’s face. Before she could react the outfit collided with her face, blinding her and sending the pegasus tumbling into her friends. “Have fun everypony, things are gonna get a lot more interesting from this point on.”
“You’re insane!” Rainbow cried as she and her friends clung desperately to the rim of the chest. Below them was nothing but darkness and the constant howling of the vacuum that was pulling them in. Festivities looked at Rainbow with a puzzled look and then let out another giggle.
“Insane? Nononononononono, mischievous.” With that she flew into the sky and vanished. As she did the vacuum of air suddenly increased its force, and one by one the ponies lost their grip and tumbled into the black. once they were inside the chest the other two jumped inside of it as well. It then slammed its lid down and vanished with a pop.
~~
Festivities reappeared by her sister's side, giggling like a school filly. The map of ponyville now showed the six tokens began moving around the town in groups of two, finally stopping one they were all a ways away from one another. Fest leaned on her sister's side and giggled some more as she began thinking of some more ways to play with these ponies. She already had six ideas brewing when she noticed her twin wasn’t paying attention to her, instead staring at the map attentively.
“Games, what’s wrong?” she asked concernedly. “Everything seems to be going just like we planned.” Her sister turned to look at her and then pointed to the map. Festivities followed her hoof and her giggles gave way to a look of confusion. There was a small black piece moving along the board, like the pieces used to represent the ponies, only there was something different about this one. A tiny aura seemed to encompass it. “What does this mean?” Fest asked her sister.
Games leaned back in her chair and a challenging smile grew on her face.
“What it means, my dear sister, is that we have a wild card in our mitts.”
~~
Eclipse walked down the long hallway from his quarters his head held high as he did. He was a light grey unicorn with a short blue mane and tail that he always kept in mint condition. His yellow eyes never lost sight of his destination. His cutie mark, a solar eclipse, was currently hidden beneath his yellow and grey uniform.
As he walked ponies gave him salutes and greetings, but he didn’t stop for any of them. He had more important things at the moment than to talk to these ponies, and so did they. So he kept his proud posture and continued on to the end of the hall. He passed many ponies at work testing some new prototypes. They’d better be following the correct procedures. he thought as he past them.
Finally he came to the end of the hallway and came to the large double door with the image of a bright yellow sun rising for a new day. He took a moment to smiled as he gazed at the image before bursting through the doors. The room beyond was large and rectangular shaped. Long silver tables lined the room, and sitting at each were around ten ponies of every tribe and gender. In total there were most likely around forty in the room.
Eclipse had entered onto a stage at the very front, so all their eyes were focused on him. He smiled again and moved to the edge of the stage where all of them could see him clearly. It was only then did he speak.
“Greeting one and all. As all of you should already know my name is Eclipse, vice chairmen of the Yellow Sun Corporation.” His voice was authoritative and caused everypony to not dare take their eyes off of him. “You have each been chosen because you are the brightest minds in all of Equestria. Each of you excels in the fields of science, and each of you wishes to use your knowledge to help our great country.
“Our organization is just that. We are dedicated to the preservation and advancement of our society so that we may survive for many generations. And you shall all be a part of it based on your skills. Some of you will be in the fields looking through the ruins of past civilizations. Others will be here and work on prototypes and models. Others still shall-”
It was at that moment that the door behind him burst open and a brown unicorn stallion came rushing in with what looked like chart reading held in his magic.
“What is it?” Eclipse asked with frustration clearly in his voice. He did not like being interrupted in front of the new members.
“I’m sorry sir, but you need to see this.” the unicorn said, passing the readings to Eclipse. He took them in his magic and read them over carefully. Once he was finished he read them over again, this time his eyes showing hints of anger.
“Where were these readings taken?” He asked quietly.
“Around Ponyville, sir.”
Eclipse nodded to the stallion, who promptly rushed off before turning back to the recruits. With just a quick look he dismissed them all before leaving himself. He smiled again as he walked, a wicked smile of hatred and triumph. He didn’t go back to his quarters as he normally did after introductions. Instead he headed further down the hall, towards another set of doors.
There was someone he needed to show these readings to.
Rainbow Dash awoke lying on her back and staring up at the clear sky. A shower of water was falling onto her face, and she seemed to be submerged up to her ears. Quickly she got to her hooves and looked around; she had been laying in a fountain located in one of Ponyville’s many parks. Quickly she hopped out of the water and shook herself dry the moment her hooves touched grass. It was only then that she heard the faint breathing coming from behind her. She turned towards it and let out a tiny gasp.
“Fluttershy, you ok?” Rainbow said, rushing over to her friend. The yellow pegasus looked up at her friend and smiled.
“Oh Rainbow Dash, what happened, and where are Twilight and the others?”
Rainbow’s eyes darted around the park after hearing her friends statement. Aside from a few birds sleeping in one of the nearby trees the two pegasi were alone.
“I don’t know,” Rainbow said as she helper her friend to her hooves. She then performed one more quick sweep of the area, which like before, turned up nothing. “But they can’t be far from here Shy.” When she looked back to Fluttershy, however, the yellow pony had her head down and hidden in her mane. “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, I knew I shouldn’t have been the one to open that chest Rainbow.” Fluttershy said sadly. “Now looks what I’ve caused.”
“It wasn’t your fault Shy, it was those twins that started all of this.” Rainbow said as she placed a hoof on her friends shoulder. Fluttershy poked her face out from behind her pink mane and looked at Rainbow.
“You think we can win this?” Her question caused Rainbow to let out a confident laugh.
“We’ve gone up against far worse than these two and come out just fine. So what if they have some fancy tricks, I’ll still kick their flanks.”
“Ok, but don’t do it too hard, Rainbow,” Fluttershy said softly. “They don’t seem evil to me, just playful.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
“Playful or not, I am so going to make them pay for this. Come on Fluttershy.” With that she began flying off in a random direction. After a second of hesitation Fluttershy followed her.
The two of them traveled through the park which, sadly, was just as deserted as the other parts of Ponyville they had seen. What really freaked them out though was that it looked like they could have all come back in a moment. Balls and kites lay on the hills where fillies and colts had been playing with them, and under a large oak tree sat a checkered tablecloth. In it’s center was an open picnic basket, filled with untouched food.
“Man, it’s like they all just left seconds ago.” Rainbow said, her mouth agape by what she was seeing. So much so that she failed to notice the large yellow box hanging from the tree in front of her until she slammed into it headfirst. This caused the box to fall from the tree and shatter into dozens of splinters of wood.
Fluttershy jumped away as bits of wood came sailing at her. A few slivers ended up touching her fur, but those could be cleaned off easily. One it was over she turned her head back. In the center of the wood pile was a pony sized golden statue of a bumble bee.
By now Rainbow had regained herself and looked curiously at the statue. Wisely she kept a fair amount of distance from it. The flapping of her wings, however, caused a tiny leaf that was blowing in the wind to land on the statues nose. Almost immediately after the bee opened its mouth and about ten yellow squares fell out of it.
“Oh now look what you’ve done!” Festivities said, suddenly leaning on Fluttershy. “Do you know how hard the bees had to work to gather all that honey? Now it’s all lost in the wind.” As if on cue the cards all lifted into the air and began floating around.
“You!” Rainbow cried before flinging herself towards Festivities. The emerald mare looked to the blue pegasus and grinned before vanishing again. Rainbow had barely enough time to veer away before she hit Fluttershy. So instead she got a faceful of grass and dirt.
“Now what good will come of that Rainbow?” There was a small pop above the pegasus and Festivities reappeared, leaning back in the air without flapping her wings. From them she pulled out a silver goblet and filled it with grape juice from a cloud.
Rainbow watched the entire ordeal, wide eyes and mouth agape.
“Wha-how-but-you can’t!”
*giggle* “Lets hope you’re better at catching honey than you are at speaking.”
Fluttershy was about to question Festivities, but the green mare seemed to read her mind. She made a lazy gesture with her hoof in the direction of a few of the flying yellow squares. One of them came close to Fluttershy's face, and the pegasus got a good look at the honeycomb pattern on it before the wind took it away.
“Collect the honey for the queen bee, but do it before time runs out, or she’ll starve. Then who will make us our honey?” Festivities pretended to cry at the end of her sentence. She then held her hoof in front of their faces and a tiny seed fell from it into the soil. “You have until the seed germinates to win. Allonsy!”
~~~
“Ok, now move it a little to the left.” Games instructed to two of her stone tokens. Between their massive arms was the last of her crates that still needed to be unpacked. If her memory served her, which it did, this one contained some valuable and delicate items that required the utmost care. So she had taken the precaution of giving this job to her two best tokens.
“My apologies, mam.” one of them said. He spoke in as close to a cockney accent as a rock was able to.
“I told you we were going to fast.” the other complained. The first token looked back to him and dropped his side of the crate carefully.
“Oh, I’m sorry, ‘cause to me it seemed you were movin’ too slow.”
The other token dropped the crate as well and shifted the granite hard hat he wore.
“I was moving at the regulation pase. You were moving point thirteen millimeters further in your strides then me.”
“Like that’ll make a difference?”
“It does you regulation breaking pebble!”
“Now them’s fightin’ words you little-”
“Boys!” Games clapped her hooves together, getting their attention. “Less fighting, more unpacking please.” Both tokens lowered their heads to her, and the second one removed his hat and placed it over his chest.
“Er, right, sorry mam.”
“Our apologies, boss.”
Both tokens then took opposite sides of the box and began rearranging the rocks in their hands. Once they had taken the form of crowbars they pried between the wood, yanking the nails from the crate easily. Their hands returned to normal and they moved the led away from the rest of the crate, and immediately Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity and Twilight fell out.
“Hey, what are you four doing on my crate of....” Games trailed off. “What was in that crate again?”
“Two way portal, boss.” One of the tokens replied.
“Thanks.” She looked back to the four ponies. “Why were you in my two way portal crate?”
The ponies slowly looked around in a daze before fixing their eyes on the green pegasus.
“Wha-how did we get here?” Twilight asked first. rarity and Applejack both got to their hooves and stared around with befuddled expressions. Pinkie, however, got up as if nothing had happened and giggled to herself.
“Ooo, that was fun.” the pink pony cheered. “Can we go again?”
Games smiled at the ponies and casually waved her hoof. The tokens took notice, and with one final nod they left her alone with her guests. Once they had closed the door behind them the green pegasus brought out her chessboard and placed four pawns on it. There was a shifting sound from behind the ponies, and soon they each found themselves sitting in a newly formed chair. This time though, the ponies weren’t as taken back as before. They all kept their eyes locked on the smiling mare.
“Mind tellin’ us where our friends are?” Applejack asked with some annoyance in her voice.
Games Master let out a quick giggle. “Me? I haven’t done anything to them. Don’t worry though they’re in very capable-” She suddenly stopped herself and let loose a fit of laughter. “I’m sorry, I just can’t finish that.” The ponies all looked at her mixtures of confusion and annoyance. “Don’t worry your pretty little heads off. Fest has them right now, so they’re safe from harm. But while we wait for her to be finished with them, how about we play a game,” She flicked her hoof and the card with Twilight’s Cutie Mark appeared in it. “For this?”
“And what do we need to do for that? Another guessing game?” Twilight inquired.
“Nono, we’ll be playing a different one. A much more enjoyable one.” With a quick smile Games tossed her board onto the floor. It sank between the cracks in the wood like water and was gone in moments. Then the room began changing. It took on a black and white square pattern from the floor to ceiling. Chairs and desks became paper thin and squeezed their way between any cracks they could, until finally the room looked like one giant chessboard.
“This game is simple; each of you is a pawn and your objective is to get to the other side of the board. You can each move only one space, or two on your first turn. Each square has an obstacle for you to overcome. If you do then you’ll be allowed to move to the next square on your next turn. If not, then you lose.” Games held her hoof out and a tiny clock flew up above the ponies heads, only instead of numbers it had their faces. Currently the clocks hands were pointed to Rarity. “Looks like you’re the first one up. Good luck.” Games gave a quick wink to the ponies and jumped backwards into the wall, where she flattened out and vanished.
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."
Games Master leaned against her Stone Tokens and looked at her board happily. The four ponies were doing well with her little challenge, or at least she assumed so since none of them had lost yet. In fact, Applejack and Pinkie Pie were nearing the end at this moment. Maybe this game shall have no losses?
The thought made her giggle to herself. It had been too long since she and her twin had truly lost a game. And where’s the fun in always winning? Thinking of her twin tempted Games to check up on her and the two pegasi she was entertaining, but the playful mare stopped herself.
“My sister can take care of herself in a game, right?” she asked her token. “I mean, I trust her, but you do know how she can get a little carried away.”
“That she can be.” The first one spoke.
“No arguments here.” The other quickly added.
Games looked at the two of them curiously. “So do you think she can handle herself, right?”
“Oh, absolutely, ma’am.”
“Without a doubt, boss.”
“Now are you two being truthful on your own will, or is it because I made you?” A mischievous smile crept along her face as the tokens looked at each other worriedly. “I’m just teasing you,” Games giggled. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have new challenges to make.” She kicked herself off their stone bodies and held her board at eye level. Carefully she slid a bishop onto the square directly in front of the orange piece and pressed down on it. The diagonal moving piece descended into the square and promptly vanished.
~~~
“C'mon Twi, ya can do it,” Applejack called to her friend. The lavender unicorn was not two squares from the end and trying her best to spin a plate on her nose. What’s worse, she had to have two of her legs off the ground while performing it. Above her head the clock was keeping her time. “Just a little longer.”
Twilight shifted her eyes towards Applejack but didn’t say anything. The clock’s hands ticked mere seconds away from a full rotation. Applejack hoped that this would mean the end of the challenge, but uncertainty hung over her mind like her hat. She had survived two of these challenges already; the first was fairly easy - just stack some barrels before the time ran out. What the farm pony hadn’t expected, though, was that the barrels would only allow certain ones to stack on top of each other. If paired with the wrong ones they’d roll back with the other unsorted.
While that challenge had been annoying, it was nothing compared to what her second was. When she’d stepped onto the white square she currently rested on it split into dozens of smaller squares that lit up at different times. And to the best of her abilities she had to avoid the colors that had appeared on the clock’s faces. All in all it was not a pleasant experience.
Finally the clock ticked its last seconds and emitted a small chiming sound. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, which was quickly replaced with a surprised gasp. The plate and stick both jumped off her nose and simultaneously vanished in a puff of green smoke.
Twilight rubbed her nose and stared at the spot where the objects had been. “I think you were right Rarity, this is nothing but smoke and mirrors.” She said confidently.
“I’m not so sure anymore Twilight, it seems awfully real to me.” Rarity replied, mournfully looking over the red patches in her coat.
“Yeah Twi, how can smoke and mirrors do this?” Applejack asked, gesturing her hooves across the room.
“Perhaps this is all the result of some form of powerful hallucinogenic.”
Applejack cocked her head to the side in confusion. “Hallucinowha?”
“A form of drug that causes extreme hallucinations,” Twilight explained. “They could have slipped some to us when we fell asleep last night.”
“On come on Twilight,” Games Master’s head began rising from the tile in front of Applejack, which had taken on a more liquid appearance. “You’re a smart pony, do we really seem the type to reduce ourselves to such a lo-” she stopped herself and giggled. “On second thought, don’t answer that.” She then swerved her head towards Applejack with a sparkle in her oceanic eyes. “I have a little proposal for you, interested?”
“Depends on what’s bein’ offered” She replied suspiciously.
“Well, since you’re all so close to the end of this game, why not have you play one last challenge for all four of you? I’ll even sweated the deal by giving you another card.”
Applejack thought the offer over carefully. “And if Ah lose?”
Games Master brought her hooves to her mouth to surpass a giggle. “Then your friends walk out of here with no cards at all, as for you...well, let’s just say I get to have some fun.”
Applejack placed a hoof to her chin and considered her options for a moment. “Alright, deal.”
Games Master’s face spread into a massive smile and she fired into the sky. Beneath her rose a massive white bishop. It grew towards the ceiling, which now looked like the nights sky. Higher and higher the bishop climbed, yet it never seemed to touch the black ceiling. It stopped once it had reached the size of a dragon.
“Oh, you’ll like this next part.” Games said, having reappeared next to Applejack. The farm pony was startled by this and jumped slightly. Games giggled at her and pointed to the towering chess piece. The top of the bishop glowed slightly and the room began to flicker. Suddenly all of the light’s in the room were sucked towards it, plunging the five ponies into darkness.
“What the hey, how’m Ah supposed t’ do this in the dark?” Applejack spoke into the darkness.
“You want to know, eh,” an old and withered voice called out. Suddenly Games Master came hobbling from the darkness and in perfect color. She was hunched over and had a poorly made grey wig placed poorly over her frill like mane. “Well I’ll tell you then, missy. Ya see that there bishop? That there is a beacon of light in this black. All you have ter do is get ter it. Though there be a few challenges along ther way.”
“Figures.” Applejack said un-enthusiastically.
“The first is that the light from the top’ll be shinin’ all over this here area. You’ll be able to see the landscape when it does. It’ll only be for a second at a time, but you’ll see obstacles and other such things. The second is this, you can’t let the light see you. If that happens you lose.”
Games stretched her shoulders and tossed her wig away with a giggle. She then flew up towards the bishop and stood on one hoof on its top. She closed her eyes and raised her hooves above her and began twirling like a ballerina.
“Wait, where are mah friends?” Applejack called up to her.
“Don’t worry, they’re as safe as if they were locked in a safe.” she giggled to herself and peered down at the orange pony. “Ready?” Applejack nodded, and Games held her hoof out flat. Her chessboard materialized in green fire and she slid a knight across it. “Good, then we can begin!”
The room suddenly began stretching itself at an alarming rate. Applejack looked up in surprised as the bishop doubled, then tripled in size in a matter of seconds.
“What the hey, why’s everythin’ gettin’ so big?” she asked, shortly before bringing a hoof to her throat. “And why’s mah voice all funny?”
“Everything’s not big Applejack,” Games called down from her perch. “You’re just really ity bity.”
Applejack gawked in confusion before a sliver of anger appeared in her eyes. “Why’d yah go and do that?!”
“To make things more fun!” the green pegasus then let out a fit of giggles as the top of the bishop glowed like a miniature sun. The light then accumulated into a single beam that began to sweep and scan all over the sea of darkness. Wherever it went the room was temporarily revealed. “Good luck - and remember - have fun with it.” Games said, flashing a smile to the tiny pony before vanishing in a green light.
Applejack looked up disbelievingly at where the pony had been before remembering the situation. Looking back to the sea of darkness she spotted a twig that seemed just large enough for her to hide behind. When the light rotated away she dashed forward and crouched behind the twig. Once the light made another rotation Applejack poked her head out and made some observations.
The darkness was filled with all forms of obstacles, ranging from narrow spaces and trapdoors to rivers and mazes without any way of avoiding the beam of light. Along with this there was also a safer path with more areas to hide behind. Though this path still had one or two traps along the way. Both of them were bordered by some form of hedge wall that was just too tall for Applejack to scale, yet it still allowed light to shine in.
Either one’ll be tricky. Applejack thought as she ducked behind the twig again. Once the light moved on she resumed canning the area. After the light rotated by three more time she finally ran out from behind her cover and towards the longer route.
~~~
Rainbow Dash’s mouth curved into a triumphant grin as her hooves curled around another square. It followed the same actions its predecessors did and floated over to the pile resting by Festivities. The green pegasus smiled brightly upon seeing this and twirled her die in a hoof.
“Only seven minutes left to go.” she called in an almost sing song voice. “Wow, you two are doing sooooo much better at this challenge than I thought you would.”
“Psh, you call this a challenge?” Rainbow said with a smug grin.
“Oh, well then, let’s make it more challenging.” she paused for a moment to giggle and looked towards Fluttershy, who was just inches away from catching her elusive square. “Oh Freddy!”
In less time it takes to blink a streak of purple zoomed in front of Fluttershy’s path and snatched her square. The yellow pegasus was taken back by this and nearly forgot to flap her wings for a second.
“What the,” Rainbow started before the streak came by and caught the other remaining card. Only then did the purple eel stop and allow the ponies to view him. He grinned at both of them playfully and held the cards carefully in his teeth.
“What is that?” Dash exclaimed, causing the eel to hiss happily and fly around in a circle. Fluttershy on the other hand seemed quite interested him him and flew closer.
“That’s Freddy, my Bolongi Eel,” Festivities chipperly explained. “He feeds entirely off of magic and can even use magic to levitate himself and objects. But he’s only a baby right now, so he can’t do anything major.”
“Wow, a Magic Hunter.” Fluttershy exclaimed. “How did you ever find one?”
“Long story, not enough time time to explain. All you need to know is that if you can get the cards away from him then you both win.” Festivities grinned happily and waved her hoof. Freddy lifted his tail, flashed her a quick salute, and then flew off.
Dash took a second to gawk at the strange sight of a flying eel before shooting off after him. Despite being much faster than her opponent the eel was able to stay out of her reach through some impressive aerial maneuvers. He twisted and swerved out of her reach, never once letting go of the cards.
“Hold still,” Dash cried as the little eel slipped out of the reach of her hooves and flew around her head. He flashed her a little wink before sliding down her back and sailing back into the air. Dash flipped herself around in midair and zoomed after her prey.
Only to be stopped by the very same tree she had crashed into earlier.
Freddy gave a happy hiss and was about to take off again when a cream colored shape appeared in front of him.
“Um, excuse me little guy, but could I please see those cards you have?” Fluttershy asked softly.
Freddy tilted his head oddly at the mare. Normally he didn’t listen to what other ponies said, but this one was different. He felt calm around her, just like with the one who looked after him.
“Please, It’ll only be for a second.” She smiled at the little eel and looked at it with kind eyes. Freddy hissed happily and dropped both cards into Fluttershy’s hooves. They then floated over to the pile and an overjoyed Festivities.
“Awesome work. you got them all with plenty of time to spare!” she nearly jumped out of her skin from the amount of joy in her voice. The green pegasus then reached down and gathered up all ten cards. With a flick of the hoof the ten became one with the symbol of a butterfly on it. “And as promised, a card for you.” she said with a quick giggle before tossing the card towards Fluttershy.
“So we won? Is it all over?” Rainbow asked as she freed herself from the tree.
“Hehe, of course not silly. This was just one challenge.” Festivities said with a giggle. “There are still many more to be had.” She flashed both of them a little wink before beckoning Freddy back to her. The little eel smiles happily and slithered back into her mane. As he made himself comfortable Festivities held her die up and prepared to leave.
“Oh no you don’t!” Rainbow cried before zooming towards the pegasus in a burst of speed. She was so fast that she caught the playful mare completely by surprise and collided with her back. Both ponies fell to the ground and Festivities die wend tumbling through the air.
Both pegasi watched the die with anticipation as it spiraled through the air. Finally it landed perfectly on the ground with the number six side facing up.
“Ooo, good job Rainbow,” Festivities cried happily. Before Rainbow could respond the green pegasus’s eyes light up like fire. Her die then began to glow brightly and busts of magic began flying out from it. The magical bursts continued until the light they emitted was too bright to withstand, forcing the blue pegasus to cover her eyes.
Rainbow Dash slowly opened her eyes after what had felt like days. Her vision was still slightly blurry from the bright light, but not to the point where she couldn’t see. Carefully she lifted herself to a sitting position and looked around. Instead of in the Ponyville park, she found herself sitting on what looked like a giant blue checker piece some forty feet in the air. Around her were similarly colored pieces, as well as some red ones. In total there were about twenty of each.
As Rainbow was trying to figure out just what this all meant a soft sound came from her left. Looking over she spotted Fluttershy on a rectangular grey platform with a large stopwatch floating above her.
“Fluttershy, what happened?” Rainbow called out.
The yellow pegasus was about to respond when there was a brief flash behind her. She let out a small squeak of surprise and ducked her head as Festivities came twirling down from nowhere. The playful mare giggled to herself as she landed carefully on a red piece next to Rainbow.
“Boy Rainbow, when you gamble you go all in.” she said, happily gesturing to the floating pieces.
“How did I do this?” Rainbow cried dumbfoundedly. Festivities looked at her with a blank expression and held up her die.
“You made me toss my die, so you chose the next challenge.”
“What! I didn't know that.” Rainbow said defensively.
“I know you didn't, you weren't supposed to have done that in the first place,” Festivities replied. “But since you made me toss the die it still counted as you creating a new challenge, which would explain why it takes place in the sky.” When she finished her face seemed to light up as it returned to its usual self. “Phew, Freddy, take a note. All serious discussions are to be handled by my sister.” the little eel poked his head from her mane; a clipboard in his tail and a pen in his teeth. Happily he jotted down what she had said.
Dash stared silently at the odd scene for a few moments. “Um...ok, so what’s this new challenge?”
“Hmm, I have no idea. Give me a second.” Festivities looked around at the individual pieces and lightly tapped one next to her. Instantly it changed from blue to red. “Oh I get it, we have to get as many of these pieces to our color. as we can before the time runs out.”
“That’s it?” Dash scoffed. “Piece of cake.”
“Is that so?” Festivities asked with a sly grin. Dash caught notice and her overconfident look dropped a little.
“Wait, you can’t use that die of yours. It, uh, would give you an unfair advantage.”
Festivities went silent; a small fire seemed to dance wildly in her eyes as she considered. Finally she nodded in agreement and stroked her mane with the same hoof her die was in. Freddy poked his nose out a second later and carefully grabbed it in his mouth. With a quick nod he flew off and sat himself beside Fluttershy.
“Ready Rainbow?” She asked with a quick giggle; which was met with a challenging smile from her opponent.
“That depends, do you like loosing?”
“My, my, me thinks the pegasus doth accept.” Festivities giggled before adopting a combat stance. The stopwatch above Fluttershy let out a small tick , and the hands began their rotation. “Your move.”
Rainbow eyed her opponent cautiously, not wanting to be caught in another of her tricks. Festivities noticed how analytical she was being and happily waved to the blue mare. Rainbow didn’t even give the gesture a second glance before spreading her wings and taking off towards the nearest red piece. As she was about to touch it a green hoof caught around her stomach and tossed her aside. Quickly she straightened out and turned to Festivities, a wry grin spread widely over her face.
“What was that for?!” Rainbow cried to the grinning mare.
“Well, I never said we couldn't block each other during this game,” She replied, twirling a little in the air before locking eyes with Rainbow again. “It’s still your move you know.”
Rainbow let out an annoyed snort and dashed towards another piece. Festivities flew after her and blocked the blue pegasus. This time, however, Rainbow was ready and flapped her wings suddenly, creating a burst of speed that allowed her to clear over Festivities and land on the piece. The red coloring drained from it and was soon replaced by blue
“Great job, Rainbow.” Fluttershy cheered softly. Freddy rolled his eyes at this and gave Fest an encouraging hiss.
Festivities giggled happily at the action and flew towards another blue piece. Rainbow launched herself into the air and pursued her opponent. She caught up to the fiery eyed mare and wrapped her hooves around her waist. Rainbow grinned triumphantly at this, until Festivities flashed her a playful smile. The green mare then raised her hooves straight above her head and slipped out of Rainbow’s grip. She spread her wings and flew off, happily giggling to herself about nothing.
Rainbow turned around in the air and shot after Festivities. Just as her hooves were to come in contact with Festivities’s side the green pegasus threw her body to the left, completely dodging the attack. she twisted in the air and straightened out above Rainbow’s left wing, which she then lightly tapped to get her attention.
“Hello.”
By the time Rainbow turned around Festivities had slipped behind her back. Whenever the blue pegasus moved to search the area Fest stayed right behind her. She covered her mouth with a hoof to surpass some giggles and leaned up to the blue pegasus’s neck.
“Psst, Rainbow.” Fest whispered into her ear, causing Rainbow to spin around in response. By the time she did, however, Fest had slipped beneath her and touched the piece she’d been guarding.
Rainbow eyed her opponent as she watched the piece change to red beneath her. Fest noticed and flashed her a happy grin.
“Say Rainbow, you’re fast right?” She asked.
“Yes.”
“Good,” she spread her wings and flew up to face her at eye level. “Because we’ve only a minute left on the clock. Better gest a movin!” She let out a flurry of giggles and flew over to another blue square. She didn’t get far though before Rainbow clamped down on her tail and pulled the giggling mare back to her starting point. Fest winked at Rainbow and twisted her body in ways a pony shouldn’t normally be able to do. Then with one swift movement she swerved completely over the blue pegasus’s, freeing her tail and landing perfectly on another of Rainbow’s pieces. “I was voted most flexible in the Young Flyers Competition.” She said proudly.
“So you can do a few tricks, I’m still the fastest flier in all of Equestria.” Rainbow cried. With a quick push of her wings she went zooming off towards one of Fest’s pieces, extending a hoof as she neared it. Fest caught notice too late and flapped after the blue mare, but even at her top speed she couldn't hope to catch up.
Rainbow face formed a triumphant smile and reached out to touch the piece. To her confusion, however, her hoof simply passed through. Before she could ask about this the piece jumped back from her and stacked itself on top of another red one, and was then joined by the rest of Fest’s pieces. Rainbow noticed that her blue pieces were doing the same thing.
“Aww, too bad Rainbow,” Fest giggled as she caught up to the confused pony. She brought a hoof to Rainbow’s face, the stopwatch laying flatly on it. Both hands were pointing to where the number twelve would have been, but instead there was a stop sign. “It looks like our time together is done and we count up the score!”
As if on cue the checker pieces all merged together and became tiny score cards. A sudden gush of wind then blew them over to the spectator platform, where they landed in front of the two occupants. Both of them eyes the cards with caution.
“Please pick them up and show us the score.” Fest called happily.
Fluttershy carefully lifted her card up and looked at it before flipping it in the direction of the pegasi. Instantly a bright neon light came from it and formed into the number 19. Freddy hissed wryly and flipped his over; after a similar show of lights it displayed the number 21.
“Aww, too bad Rainbow, you came so close to,” Festivities said with a look of pure glee. Suddenly her die jumped from where Freddy had placed it and landed perfectly in her hoof. “But not close enough I’m afraid.”
Before Rainbow could even open her mouth Fest tossed her die into the air. It spun several times over before making its descent back, where it was caught on the tip of her wing. With a huge grin she showed the die to Rainbow; It had landed on the number two. Suddenly bursts of purple and pink magic began sailing out of it and wrapping themselves around the blue pegasus’s body.
“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy cried. “W-what are you doing to her?!”
“Oh, nothing much,” Fest replied. “Just a few little change.” She then flew over to the yellow mare and collected her eel. He hissed happily and buried himself back in her mane, quickly being lost in it. “You’ll both be going back to the ground now, have a nice autumn! Oh wait, I messed that up. I mean to say-”
Before she could complete her sentence the light from her die went even brighter until it consumed the entire area. When it finally died down the green pegasus was left flying by herself in the air.
“...Dang it!”
Applejack let out an annoyed grunt as she leapt over a flowing stream, ducking immediately after so as to not hit the signpost that read Danger, bridge is out. Not the most difficult obstacle so far, but annoying nonetheless. Immediately after reaching the other side the farm pony dashed towards a nearby rock and flattened herself against it just as the light made another rotation.
The orange pony stuck her head out from the cover and took a quick observation. The bishop was barely a run away from her current position, though there was something large blocking her path. Another rotation of light revealed that the object before her was actually a large, thick maze of black vines. They wove tightly together, making thick walls and narrow passageways. The vines even grew into a roof in some areas, though they allowed the light to still shine through in others.
Applejack hesitated for a moment and looked around for any other ways to her destination. This turned out to be a waste of time, though, and she let out a sigh of receipt before running towards the maze. She barely made it into the safety of the vines before the light made another sweep over the area. She got one last quick look before the vines close over, forcing Applejack through the maze.
“Congrats, Applejack, you've made it this far in record time.” The farm pony spun her head around in confusion, stopping at Games Master’s head poking out of the vines.
Applejack’s face was devoid of amusement. “Why can’t ya just do somethin’ like a normal pony fer once?”
Games cocked her head in confusion before stepping fully out of the vines. “Why would you want to do something normal? Don’t you know the old saying; Different is heartache, different is pain, but I’d rather be different then be the same!” she finished the sentence with a fit of giggles. “Mom used to tell that to me and Fest all the time. But enough of that, you’re almost to the end Applejack. Just get through this maze and two cards will be yours. But watch out for all the traps and challenges I've placed in here.”
“Ah can handle anythin’ y'all can dish at me.”
Games Master looked at Applejack and smiled slyly before stepping aside. “Well then, I won’t hinder you anymore. Good luck.”
Applejack trotted past the pegasus without even a second look before heading off through the maze. As she turned her first corner, however, she was confused to find that the maze suddenly ended. Or at least that’s how it appeared before the vines snaked forward and wove themselves into new walls, simultaneously sealing up the way she had come through. The farm pony wasn't taken back by this. If anything it just served to further aggravate her.
~~~
Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie Pie sat on a large fluffy couch in the middle of town hall. A shimmering mist sat between them, from which they could see the images of Applejack going through the maze. The three friends watched her efforts and cheered her on the best they could, for all the good it did the situation.
“Evenin’, might we be able to interest you in some refreshments?” a voice spoke from their left. The three ponies turned to look and were met be the same two Stone Tokens from before, although the one wearing the hardhat now had on a stone bellboy cap. Between the two was a large silver cart adorned with all manner of drinks. “Everythin’s on the house.”
“Ooo, what do you have?” Pinkie asked.
The hat wearing token let out a sigh. “We’ve got some water, and a large selection of juice.”
“Oi, could you be any less enthusiastic?” His partner asked.
“Look, I’m only doing this because the boss told us to keep these three well cared for until she gets back.”
“Yeah, but could you at least pretend to be invested?”
“...No.”
“Hey, can I still have some drinks?” Pinkie chipped in, bringing the tokens attention back to her.
“Our apologies, mam,” the first token said. “What can we give you?”
Pinkie pointed a hoof to a carton of apple juice, which the hat wearing token carefully handed her. She smiled thankfully and went back to sitting with the others.
“Say, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what exactly are you two?” Twilight asked the two tokens.
The first one scratched his head. “Now ain’t that a question? I guess you could say we’re just pawns in the boss’s game. Whenever she need us, we’re there. Once she doesn’t, we’re gone.”
“That sounds really upsetting.” Pinkie said in a quiet tone.
“It’s not the best life out there, but it’s all we’ve got,” the second token continued. “Besides, the boss is nice to us, even if she’s got some odd ways of showing it.”
“Uh huh, and how exactly does a pegasus summon stone minions?” Twilight inquired.
The first token was about to respond before his partner shoves his hat into his mouth. “You know we’re not supposed to say!”
The first token nodded and slowly removed the hat from his mouth, placing it back on the seconds head. “My apologies miss, we’re not supposed to give away the boss’s secrets, you see.”
“I thought as much,” Twilight sighed. “I know the answer is staring me in the face. Why can’t I see it?”
“What if it’s chaos magic?” Rarity suggested. “I mean, they do seem to lack order with their tricks, and it has a certain Discord-esque feeling, don’t you think?”
Twilight brought a hoof to her chin. “That seems...”
“Girls, come quick!” Pinkie cried while pointing to the mist. Twilight pushed the thought to the back of her mind for the moment and peered into the mist with Rarity and Pinkie. As they did, the stone tokens decided to sit themselves down in the far back of the room and make silent bets between themselves.
~~~
Celestia knows how long Applejack walked in what seemed like a never ending straight line with the snaking black vines. Occasionally they’d move in front of her and form into some form of canopy that seemed at first to block the orange pony. Luckily, though, it was actually to hide her from the light of the bishop. At least they’re still being fair. Applejack thought to herself.
After the light passed again the vines twisted forward and formed into a large wall, dominated by a ponies face. It let out a slow yawn and then fixed its gaze onto the orange pony.
“It’s about time you got here,” it cried before noticing Applejack’s total lack of interest. “What, not surprised at all?”
“Ah’ve seen weirder”
“Fair enough,” it said, looking around the area quickly. “Ok, you want to get passed me and finish the game, right? Well to do that you need to complete a little puzzle.”
Applejack’s eyebrows dropped in annoyance. “Yeah, Ah thought as much. Can we get this over with?”
The wall nodded in agreement and seven vines shot towards Applejack, stopping just in front of her face. On their tips were tiny buds - six of which quickly burst into bright blue flowers. Each one had five darker pedals around the, shaped like miniature diamonds. The last one opened into a tall white rose.
“One of these blue flowers you see has a slight difference from the other five. Your job is to find that difference and show it to me. You have until the rose wilts, good luck.”
The vines around the walls mouth curved into a smile as the rose slowly began dulling in color. Applejack didn’t wait around and immediately began looking over the flowers. Alright, its gotta be something small and inconspicuous. She thought while looking over the flora. Is it the coloring? No, the size?
By this point the rose’s had dulled to an almost pale yellow. The first of its many pedals shriveled up and slowly fluttered off of the main body. The wall eyed the pedal and caught it on the tip of its vine. It then proceeded to eat the pedal without a second thought. It repeated the process with each of the other pedals, never letting a single one touch the ground and getting an odd look from Applejack.
“What? I’m not letting good flower pedals go to waste.” it said. Applejack shrugged in response and went back to looking at the flowers. “Oh, and can you please take as long as it takes to answer, these are really tasty.”
Applejack ignored the wall and went back to staring at the flowers. Whenever she tried to focus on one for any period, though, her eyes would play tricks on her and make the colors seem to merge together or the patterns reshape. It hurt her eyes after a while, but she remained focused on her task.
Applejack then noticed a tiny speck of purple located on one of the flower leaves. At the moment she wasn’t sure if it was real or not, but it was better than nothing. “This one here.” she said pointing to the flower.
The wall of vines pulled the flower towards it and popped it into its mouth. it chewed slowly before turning its face and spitting in disgust. “Yeah, that’s the odd one. You can go through.”
The vines quickly undid themselves and slithered away, and Applejack wasted no time in proceeding through. The vines then reformed by her sides again and crept after her. Applejack paid them no mind and kept on heading for the bishop. By now she was no more than a minutes run away from victory. So focused was she on reaching her goal that she didn’t feel her hoof brush against a hidden tile on the floor. The vines quivered as she removed her hoof from it, causing the orange pony to look at them in confusion. Suddenly they fell to the ground and went limp.
“Aww, too bad Applejack,” Games Master’s voice seemed to be projected from the air itself. “You went and activated one of those traps I mentioned, and now there’s no protection for ten seconds from the light, which is coming this way right now.”
Dread welled up in Applejack as she quickly shot her head towards towards the beacon. Sure enough, the light was fast approaching her, and where she stood there wasn’t any visible cover. In a panic she tried to run in the opposite direction of the light and ended up stumbling over the vines. Quickly she looked up and saw the light inches away from her. All she could do was brace herself as it advanced and slowly overtook her.
To Applejacks confusion the light never touched her. Looking at the path of the beam, it seemed that when the circle of light came to her it was overtaken by another circle. This one was black and seemed to creep and shift ever so slightly. It confused the farm pony, but at least the game hadn’t ended - to her knowledge. By the time the light passed fully over her protective circle the life had returned to the vines, who came snaking back to her side. Not wanting to waste another moment, she rushed ar quickly as she could towards the bishop.
A flash of movement caught in the corner of Applejack’s eye. Quickly she stopped running just as the vines on her left side shot out and blocked her path. So, that’s how ya want t’ play, is it? She thought to herself as the vines twisted themselves into hurtling beams and other such obstacles. she judged the height of the beam and took a few steps back. Once she’d figured out all that she needed she ran forward and leapt easily over the beam. Immediately upon her a large mass of vines shot out and attempted to wrap themselves around her. She quickly jumped aside and slammed her hooves on top of them, running forward during the brief window of opportunity it created. The vines recovered as quickly as they could, but by then Applejack had already placed a hoof on the bishop.
~~~
“Oh Gamesie, I’m back.” Festivities flew around the outside of the town hall searching for her twin and eventually spotting her on a nearby cloud. “Hey, sis, you would have loved the challenge me and Rainbow Dash played. It was so...hey, is everything alright?”
Games Master had her back turned from her twin and was instead focusing all her attention on her chessboard. Fest rested her head on her shoulders to get a better look. In the center of the board there was an orange pawn standing next to a toppled bishop.
“Aww, did they beat your game, sis?”
“Yes, but look closer, Fest.”
Fest followed her sisters gaze and noticed that there was a third piece hidden among them; a black pawn with an odd aura about it.
Fest clapped her hooves excitedly and turned back to her twin. “Oooo, The Wildcard is back. Think we could have some fun with it?”
“Easy there Fest,” Games said calmly. “let’s not go swimming without knowing the temperature of the lake. We’ll learn what this wildcard intends to do first, then we can have some fun with it.” she finished those last words with a giggle.
“I think I’ve got you covered on that, sis.” Fest giggled and caressed a hoof through her mane. A second later Freddy poked his head out with an excited look in his eyes. “Freddy, I need you to keep an eye out for anything suspicious and report back to me, think you can do that?”
The little eel nodded happily before slithering out of her mane and giving her a quick lick on the nose. Fest giggled and planted a tiny kiss on his snout before playfully tossing him into the air and watched with her twin as he flew away.
~~~
“Applejack did it!” Pinkie Pie cried, nearly bouncing off the walls with excitement. Twilight and Rarity both cheered at the image of Applejack smiling triumphantly by the bishop until their pink friend brought them in for a group hug - though perhaps with a bit more force than she had intended.
“Pinkie...” Twilight gasped. “A little too tight...”
Immediately Pinkie’s grip lessened on the two unicorns. “Sorry girls,” she said before turning over to where the stone tokens were sitting. “So what happens now? DId we win? Can we go home now?”
“Give us five seconds and you’ll see.” the hatted token said.
Pinkie was about to open her mouth a second time when an odd sound caught her attention. Spinning her head around she saw that the mist was swirling wildly and giving off a faint glow. Suddenly it emitted an odd spitting noise and shot a rather confused looking Applejack at the three ponies.
The hatted token looked at Pinkie with a bored expression. “That answer your question?” She didn’t bother to reply him, however, instead focusing all her energy on hugging her orange friend.
“Pinkie...What happened?” Applejack asked in confusion. “How’d Ah get here?”
“To answer your questions Applejack, you won and I brought you here,” Games Master said, appearing from behind her tokens. “Now I do believe I owe you something.”
The green mare flicked her hood and the mist traveled into it. With a final flash of light it materialized as the cards that had Applejack and Rarity’s cutie marks. She gave her hoof another flick and the cards went flying outwards, landing perfectly on Applejack’s hat.
“Alright, how many more games of yours do we need to play?” Twilight asked as Games began to pick up her chessboard.
“Silly Twilight, I’ll leave that part up to you,” she replied. “Keep winning and very few. Lose, however, and we get to keep having fun. Oh, and speaking of fun, you’re all going to love this.”
Quickly she slid a pawn two squares on her board and the floor beneath the ponies vanished, giving way to a gaping hole. The four friends had only a second to cry out before it swallowed them up. They were tossed and tumbled down what felt like a hastily dug tunnel filled with odd rubbery objects bumping into them constantly. Suddenly there was a drop in the tunnel, and the four friends found themselves at the base of a hollowed tree. Pinkie was the first to recover and was hit on the head with a shower of rubber spheres.
“Oh, are you all ok?” A soft voice asked. Pinkie looked around and spotted Fluttershy standing next to a conveniently placed bush as a stream of balls moved past.
“Hey Fluttershy, and no I’m not. Now I have to restock for ball emergencies.” Pinkie said
“Fluttershy, what happened?” Twilight asked as she helped Rarity up. “Where were you, and where’s Rainbow Dash?”
The yellow pegasus lowered her head. “Me and Rainbow both played one of those mare’s games. I won one of them, but Rainbow didn't.” She turned her head towards the bush, which gave a small shift.
“Rainbow?” Rarity asked, to which the bush only shifted some more. “Darling, will you please come out?”
“No.” Rainbow’s voice said from the bush.
“C’mon, Rainbow, Ah know yah hate t’ lose but that ain’t no reason t’ hide from us.” Applejack said, giving the bush a little nudge of encouragement. It moved slightly away from her, causing the orange pony to adopt an annoyed look. “Rainbow Dash, stop mopin’ around and get out here.”
“I said no.”
Applejack looked to Twilight, who gave a small nod and lifted the bush with her magic. Once she’d fully uncovered Rainbow Dash she dropped the bush in shock. Underneath it was indeed their fast flying friend, but her mane was now a sky blue coloring. The normal rainbow coloring that defined her name was the current color of her coat.
Rainbow Dash let out a sigh of defeat and looked up towards her friends. “There, you happy now?”
“Darling, what ever happened to you?” Rarity asked frantically. “I know rainbows are an important part of your image, but this just seems too much.”
“Um, she didn't do this willingly,” Fluttershy added. “This is what they did to her when she lost a game.”
Twilight pondered this for a moment. “I guess now we know what they meant about the whole ‘lose and they get to make some changes' ordeal.” She then offered a hoof to Rainbow, who was hesitant at first, but after a moment accepted.
Once on her hooves Rainbow just stood there and looked on her now rainbow body.The colours dividing her body into six segments traveling horizontally. Where they met they blended together nice and evenly, like there were no lines at all. Her left hooves were both red, along with the rest of her left side. Orange, yellow, green and blue all fought for control of her center, with violet taking up her right. When I get my hooves on those two...
Out of the corner of her eyes Rainbow noticed Applejack looking over two cards similar to the one Fluttershy had won. “So, what kind of challenge do yah think those two will toss our way now?”
Before she could get a response the area was lit up by a bright green flash. When it dimmed away Festivities stood there, balancing her die on the tip of her wings. She smiled brightly at them and reached behind the nearby tree, pulling out an announcer's microphone.
“Testing,” She said before tapping the microphone with her hoof, which gave out a loud ringing sound. Everypony cringed from the noise, but Festivities didn’t seem to notice. “Testing. Testing. One, two, three. Can everypony hear me?”
“Hey!” Rainbow called, ignoring the green pegasus. “Change me back now!”
“Oh good, I was afraid this thing was broken.” Festivities continued before tossing the microphone over her shoulder. “Now then, welcome everypony to the halfway mark in our little competition. I got to say, we’re quite impressed; most ponies we play with don’t make it past the first challenge.” Her smile faltered for a second. “Darn shame too.”
Rainbow’s eye’s twitched angrily as she flared her wings. “I don’t care. Change me back!”
Festivities rolled her eyes un-interestedly and a bored sigh escaped her lips. She flew over to Rainbow and stopped mere inches away from her face. “Maybe you didn’t understand the rules that we have consistently repeated over and over and over again. I’ll say it one more time, you lose a game, we get to make some changes. Clear as mud?”
“What gives you two the right to force these things onto ponies?” Rarity asked.
Festivities replied to her with a shrug. “For the prizes we give out, it seems a fair consequence. We do believe in equality, after all”
You call this equality? Rainbow thought angrily to herself. She was about to verbalize it when she noticed that Festivities’s back was turned to her. Quickly an idea formed and she decided to seize it. As softly as she could she backed away from Fest and Rarity, leaving them to continue their exchange.
“And you don’t care in the slightest that you’re hurting ponies with these ‘changes’?”
“Silly Rarity, we don’t hurt ponies. That’s no fun at all.”
Rainbow unfurled her wings and rose as silently as she could into the air. Once high enough she shot down towards the green pegasus’s side. But before she had any time to think the green mare sidestepped mere seconds before Rainbow’s hooves would have came in contact with her. The next thing she felt was the hard earth rushing to meet her.
Festivities giggled to herself and trotted over to the dazed rainbow mare. “Sorry Rainbow, but the same tricks don’t fool me twice.”
Rainbow shot her a venomous look and scrambled to her hooves. Luckily Twilight spoke up before she had the chance to try anything else. “So, is there any reason you’re here other than to both congratulate and aggravate us?”
Fest looked back at her and grinned giddily. “As a matter of fact, TwiTwi, I do have another challenge for one of you to play.” With a flick of her wing Fest tossed her die into the air and caught it on the tip of her tail. It glowed a bright green and in a flash of magic a pile of squares appeared, burying the pegasus under them. On the surface of each was what looked like a chopped up piece of a much larger image.
“Who here love picture puzzles?” Festivities asked, suddenly sitting on a nearby building top. “I know I do. Rules for this game are very simple, just make the picture before the time runs out. Same conditions as usual for if you win or lose.”
“That’s it?” Rainbow blurted out. “That’s so simple.”
Festivities nearly fell over in a fit of giggles. “Of course it’s simple, silly, not all of our games have to be big and complex.” She paused to catch her breath. “Besides, after all the fun we just had, Mistress thought you deserve a more relaxing challenge.”
“How considerate of her.” Twilight added.
“Yes, it was,” Festivities then clapped her hooves together happily. “Right then, who shall we pick for this challenge?” She pondered for a moment until her eyes lit up. “Pinkie Pie, how ‘bout you take this one?”
“Okie Dokie Lokie” Pinkie replied. Her eyes then locked onto the pile of puzzle pieces, as well as an hourglass that had suddenly appeared next to it. Separating its two chambers was a pink card that bore Pinkie’s cutie mark.
Festivities places her die behind her ear and flew over to the hourglass. “This should be plenty of time for you to finish the puzzle. Oh, and the rest of you can’t interfere, ‘cause then the game would be over too quickly.”
With that out of the way she placed a hoof on the edge of the card and slid it from between the chambers. Instantly golden sand began to trickle in a tiny stream from the top chamber to bottom. Pinkie didn’t waste any time and immediately began sorting through the puzzle pieces.
“OK, while Pinkie’s busy doing that minigame we can play another,” Festivities said, making her eyes go large. “C’mon, pleeeaassee? It’d mean winning cards quicker. Besides, you ponies haven’t seen my games before.”
“There’s a difference?” Twilight asked, slightly curious.
“I don’t care about differences,” Rainbow cried. “I just want my coat back to normal NOW!”
“If your friends win the game, they can use one of their rewards to fix you.” Festivities said while absentmindedly polishing the gemstones on her bracelets. ”So are you girls gonna play, because me and Games sort of have this wagor going on to see which of our game you’ll beat the most of, and it’d help me out so so much if you’d accept.”
“Hold on a sec, y'all never did fully explain what we stood t’ gain in all this.” Applejack said.
“Yeah, we usually explain the terms of prizes after the game is completed.” Festivities made her eyes go even bigger. “Please play another minigame. You want to get closer to the end, right?”
“Oh, alright,” Rarity said after a while. “Just so long as none of them ruin my coat any further.”
Festivities looked at Rarity with a joyous smile and began to giggle happily. She then pulled her die out again and tossed it along the ground. It landed on a four, causing a large game wheel divided into nine section to appear. In each section was a picture of a pony and some other random item.
“Pick a poison, light it up. Try to survive it, best of luck!” Festivities jumped from the ground and did a small flip in the air before stabilizing herself with her wings. She looked down at the ponies and smiled festively, until she noticed the confused look on Rarity’s face. “Just gather some magic in your horn and touch the wheel while it’s spinning.”
Rarity wasted no time and gathered some magic in her horn. As she did, the wheel began spinning rapidly. After a moment Rarity elegantly stepped forward and tapped the wheel with her horn. Instantly it stopped its rotation and she looked at the image her horn currently rested on; a pony running from what appeared to be rain. Festivities looked over her shoulder and giggled.
“Ooo, nice choice Rarity. Just avoid getting hit for, let’s say...five minutes. Good luck!”
“What was that?” Rarity asked, only to see that the emerald mare had vanished. As she turned her head to where she had been something hard shot down from the air and impacted with the ground next to the white unicorn. Quickly she looked at it and discovered it was a rubber eight sided die.
“Watch out Rarity!” Rainbow called as another rubber die came raining from the sky. Rarity quickly lifted her head in the direction of her friend, narrowly avoiding the rubber piece and gasping in surprise. Her attention then turned skyward and she quickly skidded towards the left. A volley of rubber pelted the spot where she’d been and then shifted its trajectory to her current position.
~~~
Freddy had been searching for ten minutes already and so far hadn’t managed to find anything out of the ordinary. The little eel hissed to himself as he slithered over building. scanning near and far over the area. It wasn’t his place to doubt his mother, but this seemed an unnecessary task. Nothing could touch her and her sister; they’d been able to avoid all sorts of ponies who’d come after them for their games - something Freddy never understood. It’s all fun and nopony is ever hurt. Why do they have to go and stress out?
The little eel was brought back to reality when a sweet smell flew into his nostrils. Immediately his mouth began to water and his eyes glowed a bright pink. As they did he was lifted into the air by his own telekinetic magic and slithered off in the smells direction. It drew him towards the edge of town, and once he saw what had attracted him he quickly dashed into a nearby tree to observe.
Crossing over a stone bridge into town was a group of ten ponies dressed in yellow uniforms; Two earth ponies, four pegasi and four unicorns. On each of their uniforms was the symbol of a sun. The sweet smell that had tempted him to them was the magic the unicorns were casting; scanning spells if his nose was right.
One of the unicorns dispersed his magic and moved over to another. “Eclipse, all the local unicorn magic is interfering with our scans.”
The second unicorn turned and glared at the first. “I don’t care about your excuses, just keep searching.”
“Are you even sure we’re in the right place? I thought these two were more...flashy with their presentation.”
“Yes, but sometimes they’re subtle. Most likely they’re playing a game of smaller scale than last time.”
The first unicorn was about to speak again but his partner shot him an authoritative look and he went silent. Freddy watched them with a hint of worry in his thoughts.These ponies were likely to interfere with his mother’s game in their search for who knows what. Obviously he’d have to get rid of them somehow, but being little more than a hatchling he lacked the required size and power to directly chase them off. So instead he stayed in-between the thick branches and watched them work.
“How is this fun?!” Rarity cried to nopony in particular as she narrowly avoided another volley of rubber pieces. She’d been going for about three minutes already and was lucky enough to have avoided any contact with the projectiles. Yet as the seconds went on the rubber hail seemed to increase its assault, by now staying just behind her carefully curled tail. Rarity might have wondered just where the rubber was falling from - especially since there wasn’t so much as a cloud above her - but considering all else that had happened so far it seemed trivial.
Her four friends were standing a good ten feet away from her, partially because of the threat of being hit and partially because of the long line that seemed to move with whatever direction Rarity was running in. The ponies - specifically Rainbow Dash - had quickly learned that any attempts to cross the line was met with what seemed to be an invisible wall of some kind. So the best they could do was shout words of warning for their friend.
“Rarity! Move left!” Twilight shouted.
“No, your other left!” Rainbow cried a second later.
“No, your other, other, other left!”
“Pinkie Pie, when did you get here?” Applejack asked, causing the other ponies to turn their heads for confirmation.
“Just now,” the pink pony said. “the puzzle wasn’t all that hard, see?”
With her right hoof she gestured over to the spot her friends had last seen her in. Next to the still draining hourglass was a large portrait of what seemed to be a performer's stage. Standing atop it was a swamp green unicorn mare with a bright smile on her face. Her mane and tail were both a pale green and purple colouring, and while her mane was neat and tidy her tail was wild and tattered. All around her cards were being swept up as if in some form of magical wind. Her cutie Mark was a magician’s hat and wand.
“Hey Fluttershy, something wrong?” Rainbow asked. Her friends hadn’t spent more than a few seconds looking at the picture before turning back to Rarity, with the exception of the yellow pegasus.
“Oh, sorry Rainbow, it’s just...I feel there’s something familiar about this mare.”
“There is?” Rainbow asked before peering closely at the magician. And sure enough, even though the rainbow mare had never seen this pony before, there was some familiarity in her smile and posture.
“Yah know,” Applejack pitched in. “as interestin’ as Ah’m sure that puzzle is, Rarity seems a tad more important right now.”
The two pegasi turned their heads away from the puzzle and back to their friend. She was still running around and dodging the projectiles. Fluttershy felt bad about just sitting on the sidelines as her friend preformed what seemed to be a potentially harmful task. This struck the yellow pegasus as odd, seeing as how the two had stated they didn’t perform any harm ponies. Then again Rarity had yet to be hit by a piece.
Thinking of the pieces caused Fluttershy’s gaze to shift towards all of the fallen rubber that laid scattered in the grass. After a while they stopped looking so random and seemed more organized than before. Like they formed a shape of some kind.
“I think she’s on her last minute.” Twilight said with relief. She seemed to be in the right, seeing as how the rubber pieces were beginning to fall at a slower rate than before. even so they still were landing just inches from any particular piece of Rarity’s body. Then the sound of a bell chimed from nowhere and they stopped falling entirely.
Everypony trotted over to Rarity, Twilight reaching her first. “Rarity, are you ok?”
“I’ll be fine, just so long as we can get out of this horrendous competition!”
Fluttershy smiled and walked toward her friend. A cracking sound caught her attention as she placed her hoof down, causing her eyes to widen. Before she could warn her friends tiny cracks formed all over the ground. There was a loud splitting sound and suddenly the ground came out from beneath the six ponies, sending them tumbling down into a large hole strangely shaped like a chess king. The hole then instantly began to repair itself at an alarming rate, not even giving enough time for Rainbow to unfurl her wings. Not that she’d needed to since the fall was the equivalent to a one story drop and a fluffy stop, courtesies of a massive pillow. The ponies only got a second to look at it before the hole sealed up and the were plunged into darkness. Or at least until Twilight illuminated her horn with magic to give them some form of light.
“Great, now where are we?” She asked to the darkness, only half expecting to get a reply.
Applejack got up from the pile of fluff and shook her head. “Ah’m confused, didn’t Rarity win her game?”
“That she did,” The voice of Festivities echoed through the darkness. “but that was just a warm up. This is the actual game, everypony!”
A tapping sound echoed through the darkness, and the ponies decided to move as close together as possible. The sound grew louder and louder until its source came rolling into view; a black six sided die. It came to a halt between the six, with the same number faced up. It glew a green glow and beams of magic came sailing out from all directions, illuminating the darkness and revealing its contents. Rows upon rows of mirrors of all shapes and sizes filled the cavern.
“What the...How in Equestia did you make this?” Rarity gasped.
“Oh, it was nothing special,” Everypony turned to their left and spied Festivities’s image gradually approaching them from inside the mirror. “All you need is some duck tape, know how, and of course a little magic never hurt.” At this she held up her hoof and the die vanished in a ball of green fire, appearing again on her hoof.
“You’re not in my sisters domain anymore, girls,” she continued. “You’re in my game now, and to win is very simple. All you need to do is catch me!” Her eyes danced like fire and she let loose a flurry of giggles.
“Wha- then what was that appalling activity you had me do?!” Rarity cried.
“LIke I said, that was just a warmup.” Fest giggled before walking off the left screen of the mirror. She reappeared inside of another, much taller one and then brought a hoof forward. The glass rippled like water and she casually walked out in front of the ponies. Not a moment later her body was covered in both a purple and light blue aura and she found herself unable to move.
Fest let out a yawn and turned boredly towards Twilight and Rarity, whose horns were both illuminated. “Aww, and I thought we’d come so far as friends.”
Her die glowed bright green with magic, which quickly spread over her body. Both unicorn suddenly found themselves on their knees, straining to keep their spells up. Then, the spells burst off of Fest’s body like confetti and floated casually to the ground.
“Magic would end the game too quickly, girls, so you can’t catch me with it.” Fest said, placing her die behind her ear while simultaneously jumping out of the way of both Rainbow Dash and Applejack’s attempts to flank her. She performed a triple flip before diving into a short square mirror. Not a second later her face appeared on every other mirror and giggles giddily.
“Quit hiding!” Rainbow cried. She met with another round of giggles. The mirrors then set about rearranged themselves into six long pathways. The giggling began to fade into an echo that seemed to be coming from each path at once.
“I guess we’d better go looking,” Twilight said. “If somepony sees her call us and try to keep her busy as long as you can, got it?”
“Right.” everypony said in near unison before they each took off down a separate pathway.
~~~
Six little ponies in the maze, yet none can escape from my gaze.
Oh where to begin, oh where to start? I’ll ask Lady Luck, for she is smart.
Fest giggled at her little rhyme and peered across the edges of the mirror she was in. Nopony was coming from the hallways, which meant she was free to plan. Carefully she rolled the die in her hoof and it was enveloped in green magic. She grinned as the numbers on the die changed into the heads of the six ponies, all smiling back at her. Once the magic died away she tossed the die in the air and caught it on the tip of her wing. Holding it up to her face she was delighted to see it was Twilight looking back at her.
“Sweet!” Fest cried to herself. carefully she slipped the die behind her right ear and leapt onto the side of the mirror, reappearing in another one ten mirrors down. As she traveled her mind was busy at work thinking of ways she could entertain the guests. Though she’d have to be discreet about it; she didn’t want her sister finding out about this little funhouse she’d spent a good deal of time making.
Relax Festi, take a chill strip why don’t cha? Games is gonna totally love this... right?
Finally she stopped in an ovulon mirror and peered through the glass. As she predicted Twilight Sparkle had just passed the mirror and was continuing down the hallway.
“Aww, ze little pony iz lost. Ve should help her.” Fest said to herself before flicking her die back into her hoof. With a quick toss it opened up and a large green serpent with a long black moustache came slithering out. It let out a long hiss and slithered towards the unsuspecting unicorn. It’s body arched skyward and it lashed forwards, only to be blasted backwards by a beam of magic.
“Nice try,” Twilight said as she watched the serpent vanish in a puff of confetti.
“Aww, why’d you go and do that Twitwi?” Fest asked from the mirror directly next to the unicorns head. She turned towards the pegasus and fired a spell at the mirror, causing it to shatter. Fest however, had already jumped into another, more diamond shaped one. “He wasn’t going to hurt you, just entertain you. I even had the maracas and everything.”
“I’ll pass, thanks.”
The corners of Fest’s mouth twisted themselves into a challenging grin. Casually she stepped out of the mirror, her red eyes flickering like fire. “Well, if that’s how you want to play.”
Before Twilight could call out Fest slid across the floor and tickled her nose with the tip of her wings. She giggled despite herself, which Fest - being the opportunist she is - used to lightly push the unicorn back towards a mirror shaped precariously like an eye. Then, on one fluent motion, she flapped her wings and jumped back as Twilight stumbled into the mirror. Fest smiled and then walked through the mirror as well, appearing in a circle of eye shaped mirrors with Twilight. The lavender unicorn wasn’t looking at her, however. Instead she was staring bewilderedly into an adjacent mirror.
“What happened to my eyes?” She cried. Looking in the mirror Twilight had discovered that her violet eyes had suddenly turned bright yellow.
“Neat little trick, isn’t it?” Fest said. Twilight looked at her reflection and was shocked to discover her eyes were now the same colour that hers had previously been. “These mirrors are so much fun to play with, each one a different change. Each one a new adventure. You never know what you’re gonna get!”
Twilight spun around and tried to tap Festivities with an outstretched hoof, but the pegasus simply giggled and arched her back until her head was touching the floor. She rolled out of Twilight reach and phased into another mirror. She waved back to her opponent, who saw that her eyes had now become orange.
“C’mon Twitwi, keep up if you can!” Fest waved giddily at her opponent before running off through more mirrors. Twilight galloped along after her, occasionally being forced into jumping through a few more mirrors to keep her in eye sight. By the third time she had one red eye, one green eye, a goatee, and was an inch or two shorter.
“Is there a reason for all of this?” Twilight asked in annoyance.
“I think the better question is why do you need a reason, Twitwi?”
“Stop calling me that!”
Festivities stuck her now bright blue head out of a mirror. “Did you say something?”
“Yes, Stop calling me TwiTwi! It’s annoying!”
“Ask and it will be done!” Fest said with a salute before pulling back into the mirror before Twilight could catch her. Instead Twilight stumbled through a triangular mirror and fell out of one with a wavy shape to it, causing her body to tilt more towards her left side. She groaned and tried to straighten herself out to no avail before bumping her leg into something.
“Twilight?” Pinkie said, before bursting into a fit of laughter. “Y-you look so silly!”
“Pinkie this is not the time for distractions,” Twilight said to little avail. “Did you see Festivities come through here?”
“Yeah I did, and so I called out for you girls like you told us to before trying to catch her. But then she jumped into this one really really tall mirror before I could get away. So I ended up falling after her!”
“Oh no,” Twilight’s eyes widened with concern. “Pinkie, did anything happen to you when you fell out of the mirror?”
“Sure did.” she replied. Absentmindedly she flicked her tail into Twilight’s field of vision. The unicorn’s eyes widened with shock; in place of her fiends candy floss like tail was pink scorpion’s tail. “Yeah, I thought it was weird at first too. But it’s actually not so bad once you get use to it. Sure, I miss my old tail, but I can live with this.”
“Pinkie...” Twilight began. “We need to find the others and get out of this crazy maze. Did you happen to come across them?”
Pinkie Pie shook her head. “Nope, I haven’t seen anypony since we split up.”
Twilight let out a sigh. “Alright then, let’s go, and keep an eye on the mirrors.”
Pinkie gave a small salute and the two began walking at a brisk pace down the isles of mirrors. For the longest time neither of them saw the slightest sign of anypony. Even Festivities giggling seemed to have died away, leaving a somber atmosphere in its wake. This, coupled with the changes both ponies had undergone, made time seem to slow down as they trudged onwards. Twilight was constantly stumbling due to her lopsidedness, and Pinkie was having fun arching and striking with her new tail.
The eery silence was finally broken by an odd shaking sound. Both ponies lifted their ears, causing Pinkie to smile and Twilight to shake her head in confusion.
“Maracas?”
“Ooo, sounds like somepony’s having a party, Twilight!” Pinkie said, now hopping in place from the excitement.
The two ponies followed the sound of the instruments until they were standing in front of a mirror shaped like door. It even had a door handle on it shaped, unsurprisingly, like a six sided die. Twilight eyed it carefully, half expecting something to jump out and surprise her. When nothing did she carefully grabbed the handle in her magic and opened the mirror.
The scene beyond had Twilight standing speechless for a moment. Rarity and Rainbow Dash were standing in the middle of a circular room, surrounded by green snakes identical to the one Twilight had seen earlier. Each of them wore a sombrero and were busy shaking maracas between their tails. What was even odder was that the snakes seemed to be trying to sing along to their music. Of course, being that they were snakes, they accomplished little more than enthusiastic hisses.
“Rarity, Rainbow, why didn’t you tell us you were throwing this awesome party?” Pinkie asked, causing the serpents to halt their music and look at her.
Rarity gasped when she saw her friends. “Pinkie Pie, Twilight, what ever happened to you both?”
“Long story, point is we need to find Applejack and Fluttershy.” Twilight said, slightly stumbling forward before Pinkie caught her.
The snakes looked between one another before smiling - much to the confusion of everypony - and returning to their dancing and music making. The ponies paid them no mind, with the exception of Pinkie who was shaking in rhythm, and continued on their way. The serpent s didn’t move from their spot, and soon the sound of their music faded away as the four friends walked alongside rows and rows of funhouse styled mirrors. Pinkie took the odd moment to look at her reflection in the distorted mirrors and make silly faces.
“Here’s a fun bit of trivia for you all,” Festivities voice said from Pinkie’s reflection, which quickly changed into the green mare. “It turns out mirrors don’t like it when you make funny faces at them.”
Instantly the mirrors folded in among themselves. The ponies all backed away in shock as the pile of glass and metal joined together and formed into an almost tree shaped structure. Festivities stepped out of the large central mirror and waves down at the ponies, and thanks to her positioning she was reflected in every other mirror on the tree.
“Alright girls, I think this game’s gone on long enough. So to make things simpler, I’m not going to run away any more. I’ll stay right here on this tree made or mirrors!” The moment she finished many of the mirrors turned to wood and formed a stairway up to where she stood.
Rainbow Dash eyed her skeptically. “That’s it, no more tricks or surprises for us?”
“Nope,” Fest replied. “Well, except for this one.” She gave the ponies a wink and suddenly all of her reflections walked out of their mirrors. The hundred or so copies then started giggling hysterically before flying up into a massive bunch and landing all around the mirror tree.
“You have got to be kidding me!”
Fluttershy’s eyes darted around frantically. Since she and her friends had split up she hadn’t seen hoof or hair of anypony, especially not Festivities or her twin. While she was slightly grateful for that the eery silence that now hung over her was worse than the twins crazy antics. Occasionally it was broken by the odd giggle off in the distance, but whenever Fluttershy turned to look she found nothing but her own reflection staring back at her. This in turn only served to increase her levels of anxiety, until it was broken by a sharp crack filling the hallway and making her jump back in fear. The sound was soon followed by a familiar moan which brightened the pegasus’s mood. She quickened her pace down through the maze and eventually came upon a section of the floor covered in shards of glass. Fluttershy unveiled her wings and carefully flew over the shards, landing right in front of a shattered octagonal shaped mirror that seemed to also act as a window, since she could see a ring of similarly shaped mirrors looking through it. And standing in the center was Applejack.
“Confound it, give me back mah hat!”
The mirror’s surfaces vibrated, almost as if they were laughing, and Fluttershy then noticed a rolled up brown ball that was being bounced off of the rippling glass. Specifically, this happened whenever Applejack tried to get close to it. She came close to catching the ball, but the mirror bounced it away at the last second and she instead slammed into its surface which, oddly, bounced her away as if it was rubber. She flew through the air for a few seconds before landing with a groan in front of Fluttershy.
“Shy?” Applejack asked, a smile quickly forming across her face. “Boy am Ah glad t’ see you.”
Fluttershy returned the smile and helped her friend to her hooves. “Are you alright?”
“Ah will be just as soon as Ah get mah hat back.” Grunting, Applejack turned back to the mirrors, who were busy passing the brown ball between one another like a group of school children. With a determined look she rushed back into the center of them and swatted the ball out of the air before the next mirror could catch it. She smiled triumphantly and placed it on her head, where it immediately unfurled back into her hat.
“Now then, Shy, why don’t we get out of this crazy place?”
“But what about the others?” Fluttershy asked as they walked back through the shattered mirror.
“We’ll find em, it’s just like when we were in Discord’s maze, minus the corruption part.”
Fluttershy winched back at the memory of when she’d been turned into a horrible brute by the draconicus’s magic. She hung her head shamefully and stared at the floor. Applejack was quick to notice this and places a hoof on her shoulder supportively.
“C’mon, we got t’ think positively.” she said before taking a quick glance at the pathway. They were quickly coming upon a left hand turn. “Why, Ah’ll bet Twi and the others are just around the corner.”
At this Fluttershy lifted her head slightly and smiled back to her friend. Applejack returned the smile and they both rounded the corner, where they did indeed find something. However, instead of finding their friends or even one of the twins they were met with the sudden arrival of another pony. Most of the figures body was concealed in a thick black cloak, specifically around the head. The only parts exposed were its legs, which were a pale grey colour. Fluttershy squeaked in off guard fright and backed up, but the pony didn’t move a muscle to look at her.
“Well Ah’ll be, Ah didn’t think there were any other ponies caught in this game.” Applejack said after the initial shock had died away. “Think yah could help us fin finding a way out of here?”
Again the figure made no movements of acknowledgement, merely keeping its head staring in the direction of the two friends. Applejack cocked her head curiously and held a hoof in the air. Still the stranger was unmoved, even when Applejack waved her hoof back and forth rapidly.
“Hello? Yah gonna help or not?” Applejack asked, being met again by silence. “Well then, could yah at least move so we can get through?” Again, nothing. “Confound It, c’mon Fluttershy, we’ll find another way.”
“You play the game well...”
Instantly the farm pony froze. That whispery voice sounded eerily like the one from her dream from that morning. She looked to Fluttershy, whose eyes had widened as she too recognized it. Quickly the two turn back towards the figure.
“What did yah say?”
A tiny smile seemed to form from under the hood. Then, without shifting its positioning one inch, the figure began backing away from the two friends.
“Will it last you through... that is the question.”
“What’re yah mumblin’ about?” Applejack asked, taking a step towards the figure who was still backing away. Suddenly the figure vanished, revealing that behind it was a large door shaped mirror. Muffled voices seemed to be coming from it, but they were too faint for either pony to make out their words.
Applejack carefully approached the mirror, half aware of what she was doing, with Fluttershy sticking close by. As the gap between them and the mirror lessened the voices became somewhat clearer, though still muffled to the point of unrecognized ability. The two of them were able to make out basic words.
“Behind you...”
“Duck...”
“Look out...”
“What’s going on?” Fluttershy asked from behind her friend.
“Ah don’t know, but it sounds like it could be the girls.” Applejack replied. “Either way, Ah don’t think we have a choice at the moment.”
She brought a hoof forward and places it onto the surface of the glass, which rippled under her like water. Before she or Fluttershy could react a powerful vacuum sucked them forward and into the mirror. There was a bright flash seconds before impact, and when it died the two were sitting in the middle of a floor covered in mirrors. Looking closer the two friends realized that it wasn’t a floor, but rather the limb of a massive tree. Mirrors covered its surface like jigsaw pieces, making it seem as if the thing was a mass of eyes and faces whenever they looked at one. Though neither of them noticed since the mirror they exited from left half of their bodies hanging off the edge of the limb. Since Fluttershy could fly she assisted Applejack in reaching a safer location, only for a familiar giggle to echo around them.
“Hehe, hey there Applejack, Fluttershy. Glad to see you came to join the party!”
Startled, Applejack spun her head around to see Festivities grinning at her. Then another Festivities poked her head over the first one’s shoulder, and then another poked her head over as well.
“What in the...” Applejack began. Fluttershy squeaked and backing away from the three identical mares until she herself bumped into something. Turning to look she saw four more Festivities grinning at her.
The clones giggled in unison and walked towards her. They only got one step in before a blast of purple magic hit the one on the furthest right, knocking her into the rest like a stack of dominoes. The clones all gave quick cries of amusement before vanishing in green smoke. Fluttershy was still too shocked to move, but her eyes were able to catch the image of Twilight appearing in her peripheral vision.
“Fluttershy, are you ok?” she asked while helping her up. “Where’d you and Applejack come from?”
Fluttershy’s eyes went wide with shock before she could say anything. “Oh my..."
“Twilight, what the hay happened t’ you?” Applejack asked, having dispatched with the clones around her.
“It’s a long story,” Twilight replied before she began to lean towards her left. Fluttershy noticed and helped support her.
Applejack shook her head at the bizarre scene. “Well, yah mind tellin’ us what’s goin’ on?”
“Festivities wants us to find her among these clones she summoned from the mirrors.” Twilight explained. “She said the only rule was that none of us could fall off this structure.”
“That’s it?” Applejack questioned, to which Twilight nodded slowly.
“Yeah, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. They keep dropping soap and other slippery things to make us fall, and we’re still no closer to finding out which of them is the real one -” She then ducked suddenly as a clone came flying down. Once it has passed she fired a burst of magic into its back, bursting it into another cloud of smoke.
“Where are Pinkie Pie and Rarity?” Fluttershy asked after a moment.
“They’re around here somewhere.” Twilight replied. Not a second later another clone came flying by. She didn’t make it far before a light blue streak came in and impacted with her side.
“Dang it, I was sure that was the real one!” Rainbow Dash lamented. Once the smoke from the clone dispersed she she ceased immediately. “Fluttershy, Applejack, when did you both get here?”
“Um, just now.” Fluttershy said.
“Yep, the gang’s all here. So what say we wrap this up and proceed with the game?”
Everypony’s head turned skyward as around twenty Festivities flew into view. Two more also flew up from the right with particularly silly looks on their faces, only to get blasted by a ton of confetti and popping into smoke a second later.
“Got ‘em, Rarity!” Pinkie Pie cheered, rolling her party cannon over to the spot where the clones had stood with the white unicorn trotting up beside her. “Hey Applejack! Hi Fluttershy!”
The Festivities all giggled and clapped their hooves together happily. Then, in perfect unison, they each joined their hooves into a circle and cheered.
“Ho Ra, Ho Ru, Ho Ri
Sound off now, one, two, thee
Fly around the mirror tree
And hide so none can see!”
The clones then raised their hooves and flew off all around the tree. The six ponies were quick to follow suit, with Rainbow Dash flying after them and Twilight firing more magic while Fluttershy supported her.
“Applejack, here,” Pinkie called before tossing her friend a mass of streamers all woven together to form a lasso. Now normally the farm pony would have questioned how such a
She gripped the makeshift lasso between her teeth and quickly began to spin it around her head. Timing just right, she let it loose just as one of the clones was circling close to the ground. The clone giggled in surprise before vanishing into green smoke.
Applejack grunted in annoyance and recovered her lasso. “How in the hay are we supposed t’ know which is which?”
“It might be easier without the bug in your ear...”
The chilling voice caused Applejack to jump back in surprise, dropping the lasso in the process. Her eyes were frozen downwards, allowing her to catch a glimpse of something vanishing from the mirror below her.
“Applejack, are you alright?” Fluttershy asked.
Applejack nodded and collected the makeshift lasso in her mouth again. As she twirled it above her she began to eye the clones, waiting for one to come within range. However, they’d learned from before and now stayed a considerable distance from her lasso’s range. Luckily for her they still had Rainbow Dash and Twilight to contend with, and they frequently knocked the clones off course and dispersed as many as they were able.
Then Applejack spotted it. Right as five of the clones scattered from one of Twilight’s attacks she’s caught a glimpse of an object in the corner of her eye. One of the clones had something hidden behind her left ear. Looking closer in Applejack was able to identify it as a black six sided die.
“Rainbow, Twi, that one there,” she called, gesturing towards the ‘clone.’ Twilight nodded in agreement and fired a blast of magic. The pegasus caught it in the corner of her eye and twirled out of the way, ducking under another of Rainbow’s attacks directly after.
“Hehehe, looks like you found me!” the pegasus giggled while talking the die out from behind her ear. Simultaneously all the clones evaporated “But can you catch me?”
“Only one way to find out.” Rainbow said in a challenging tone.
Festivities returned the gesture with a grin before flying off. Rainbow Dash zoomed after, her rainbow body reflecting perfectly off the hundreds of mirrors that made up the tree. Despite her advantage in speed, the rainbow mare always came up just short of catching her giggling opponent. She’d simply slide to the side or twist her body around Rainbow’s outstretched hooves. The closest Rainbow had gotten was thwarted not by her opponents skill, but by the mirrors reflecting the glint of her silver bracelets into her eyes. Her friends could only watch in desolation as she veered far off course and into one of the higher limbs of the mirror tree. This was soon followed by the echoes of shattering glass.
Festivities brought a hoof to her mouth and gasped. “Oh boy, I hope I still have warranty on those mirrors.”
During her momentary pause both Twilight and Applejack attempted decided to take advantage of the opportunity and sent their respective projectiles forward. The ends of Festivities’s mouth curved upwards and in a split second she turned around, grabbed the end of the lasso in one hoof, and used it smack the magic back at the group of ponies. The blast from the magic sent them all sprawling in different directions.
“Hehe, it’s been sooooooooo long since I had a game this fun!” Fest cried, flying down towards her opponents and making a fake sniffle. “Makes me sad that it must end so-”
She never got to finish that sentence, for at that second a pair of rainbow coloured hooves came down and slammed into her chest. She grunted in shock and went tumbling backwards, allowing her to see the triumphant figure of Rainbow Dash looking back. She grinned and emitted one final giggle before falling into an adjacent mirror and vanishing.
It was at this moment that the mirrors directly under the six ponies - including Dash - became liquid like and pulled them through.
~~~
Festivities continued to giggle, even as she felt herself finally being tossed from the mirror and onto the solid wood floor of town hall. Smiling brightly, she also noticed the fact that everything in the room seemed to have grown considerably bigger. Curious as to what trick her mirror had played on her she turned around and was met with the reflection of herself when she was but a filly. Her silver bracelets had fallen off and were scattered on the floor, and even her die was sticking out a little too much from behind her ear. Nevertheless, this did not in any way damper her good spirit of having lost. If anything it made her more excited because of the possibilities it presented.
What did, however, was the sight of her older sister and the look of anger that was brewing in her oceanic eyes. Festivities turned from the mirror and looked directly at her twin, deciding to face whatever was coming head on.
“Hi Gamesy!” She hadn’t used that nickname for her sister in years, but in her current form it seemed appropriate. “What’s up?”
Games Master casually slid a pawn across her board. “Oh, nothing much,” she said, bringing a hoof to her chin. “Only, hmm, I don’t know, YOU BROKE A RULE!”
Games brought her hoof down in a single fluid motion, scattering her chess pieces everywhere and causing Festivities to flinch and fall back in fright.
“S-sorry.”
“Sorry? Do you even know why you should be sorry?” Games’s eye now looked like raging tsunamis that, at any moment, would burst forth and flood the room. “Do you even know what you did?!”
All Festivities could do was shake her head.
“Of course you don’t,” Game’s inhaled, and bits of her fur looked as if they were taking on a more blue quality then green. “Our number one rule with these games is that they’re played fairly and evenly, correct? We can have some fun along the way, but in the end all participants have a fair shot at winning.” She waited for her sister to nod in response. “Well, thanks to your little mirror stunt, we didn’t do that! You made a game that was totally unbalanced! Or how about those changes? We only perform changes when the player loses! Not while they're still playing!”
Fest curled into a fetal position and held her hooves over her face. “I... I didn’t think-”
“No Fest, you didn’t think. You never think! You only act!” Games’s coat was now almost completely overtaken by blue, and the storms that were her eyes raged onwards. “Why can’t you ever just take a moment to think ?! What would mom have to say to this?!”
The mention of their mother was too much, and Festivities finally broke out into tears. The site of her little sister balling seemed to snap Games back into reality, because her eyes immediately returned to their calm state and the blue coat began receding back to green. Once it was gone she inhaled deeply and walked over to her sister.
“Festivities...I’m sorry,” she said, placing a hoof on her twins shoulder. “I shouldn’t have freaked out like that.” She let out a sigh. “It’s just, you know our rules, so why would you break them?”
Festivities looked back at her twin and sniffled. “B-because I... I wanted to impress you.”
Games picked her sister up and embraced her in a hug. “Oh, Fest, you didn’t have to do anything to impress me, you already do every day.”
“I do?” she asked disbelievingly.
“Sure, I mean, you’re way better at entertaining ponies then I am. And the tricks you can do with that die of yours, they’re something special indeed.”
Fest smiled and hugged her big sister back. The two remained like that for a moment before Games hesitantly broke it.
“Sorry, but we do still have a game to be playing,” she said whilst gathering up her chess board. “Now, where is that little worm of yours?”
“Freddy’s not a worm, Mistress , he is an eel.” Festivities replied slyly. Games rolled her eyes and wandered over to the nearby window an opened it wide. Not a moment later a flash of purple shot through and Freddy was carefully wrapped around Festivities's midsection, hissing and licking her face affectionately. Fest giggled and kissed him on the nose.
“Well, I think you two can keep yourselves occupied while I go and wrap things up with our contestants,” Games said, picking up her chessboard holding it above her head. “Agent Festivities. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to stay here and play with Agent Freddy.”
“I do accept.”
“Good,” Games then handed her sister a chess rook with a note attached. Festivities read the note and her eyes widened just as Games teleported away in green light.
This rook will self destruct in five seconds.
“Can somepony remove their hoof from my face?” Rainbow Dash groaned.
“Sorry Dashie,” Pinkie said before moving her back hoof from her friend’s cheek.
“Thanks,” Rainbow said, lifting her head up to observe the surroundings. The six of them were laying at the base of town hall, which for some reason was now flying several bright green banners from the upper levels. There was some form of image on them, but the pegasus couldn’t see from her position. Instead she turned her attention to her five friends, who were just beginning to make their ways to their hooves. Rainbow followed suit, feeling slightly woozy as she got to her hooves - which, to her dismay, were still rainbow colored.
“Ugh... What happened?” Twilight asked, bringing a hoof to her head. When she noticed it was properly aligned her eyes then widened with amazement. Quickly she looked herself over quickly. “I’m back to normal!”
“Really?” Pinkie asked before swerving her head to look at her tail. “Hey, so am I!”
“Oh, come on,” Rainbow groaned. “You both get fixed but I’m still stuck with a mismatched coat?”
“Well, that all depends on the nature of the game, you see,” Everypony turned their heads skywards to see Games Master fly down, a hearty smile dominating her face. “By the way, this is for you.” She flicked her hoof effortlessly and a card with Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark appeared in her hoof. She handed it to Rainbow, who eyed it suspiciously.
“Don’t worry, it’s not a trick. You beat my sisters game so now you get the card.” Games said. Her words seemed to come across as genuine to Rainbow, who - despite herself - took the card.
“Five cards out of seven, you girls are doing really well,but can you beat my last two challenges?” Games flew around and giggled gleefully. :”Oh, and you might want to duck.”
“Now why would we-” Applejack began before being cut off by a loud explosion from one of the upper windows of the town hall building.
Grinning, Games Master pulled out her chessboard and make a tossing motion with it, causing a large roll of chess patterned paper to fly out between her and the nearest building and catch a small, black projectile. Games rolled the paper back up and held the object in her other hoof. At first the girls were perplexed by this, until the object let out a cough followed by a giggle.
“I’ll get you for that, Gamesy!”
“Sure you will, but not now. Your big sis is working.” Games then flew over to the closest building and placed her ash covered sister, as well as Freddy - who was still around her body, down before flying back to the six ponies. “Alright, now that we have that out, who wants to play for the last two cards? Don’t worry, this game won’t be as... extreme as my sisters.”
Rainbow Dash eyed the pegasus angrily. “Oh, I’ll show you extreme!” Fortunately her friends were there to prevent her from doing something she’d regret.
Games smiled and brought forth a knight. “I was hoping you’d say that,” With a single fluid motion she slid the knight across the board, though still keeping to its “L” pattern movements. When she finished a stack of three blocks - one black, one green, and one blue, formed between her and the six friends.
“Keep a watchful eye on these blocks, because you’re going to need to put them back in their proper arrangement.” Games said, gesturing with a hoof. “Do I have a volunteer?Except for Rainbow Dash, you lost already.”
“What?!” The rainbow mare cried.
“Sorry, but dem’s the rules round these parts.” Games said, suddenly wearing a farmers hat and chewing a piece of straw. “Now Ah’ll ask again, is there any volunteers amongst this here group?”
“Ah’ll try mah hoof at it.” Applejack said before the others had a chance to. She stepped towards Games and the block with a determined look on her face.
Games smiled and tossed her ensemble to the side. “Excellent. Now take a good long look at the blocks Applejack, and put them back once they’re all jumbled up.”
Applejack wasted no time, and immediately after the pegasus finished talking she locked her eyes onto the blocks, taking into account the symbols and colours on the box. After a few moments the blocks began to shake rapidly. The sudden movement caught her off guard, and she jumped back as they tumbled around. The entire ordeal was over in a moment, and the blocks lay on the ground, completely still.
“Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor!” Games giggled before she vanished in another flash of green.
Applejack blinked from the bright light and looked to the blocks. She tried to visualize the order the blocks were stacked in her mind, and after a few seconds she had a pretty clear image. Carefully she began stacking the blocks on top of each other while simultaneously rotating them to their proper symbols. Though she was fully aware that there was most likely a hidden trick somewhere in this, so she decided to look over the block with the memory she had her mind fixed onto. Sure enough, one of the diamonds was pointed horizontally when she was fairly sure it was a vertical. So she quickly remedied the mistake and took a step back.
“Alright, ah’m done.” she said to the sky.
There was a moments pause, and the five spectator ponies looked around expectantly. Finally there wa a small click and the boxes opened up to reveal Games Master. She was standing upright on her back hooves and had a very mischievous look about her.
“Aww, so close, Applejack, but the blocks aren’t quite in the right spots.”
Grinning, she held her chessboard up and began sliding two rooks across it. Applejack didn’t have any time to react before she was encased in green light. Her friends tried to rush to her aid, but more green magic pushed them away. All they could do was watch as the magic intensified, before finally fizzling away.
“What’s yah do t’ me?!” Applejack cried. Looking herself over she couldn’t see anything different, but she knew the pegasus had done something.
“Dishing out the cost of losing.” Games said, calmly waving a hoof over her board and causing the blocks to vanish and be replaced with a full body mirror. Looking back at Applejack was her own reflection, but her green eyes now looked like those of a cat.
Startled, Applejack stepped backwards and blinked her eyes rapidly. This failed to return them to normal, and instead resulted in her becoming slightly dazed. Her friends came to her side, glaring at Games Master.
“Hey, that wasn’t nice,” Pinkie Pie said. “You make Applejack’s eyes normal, now.”
“No can do, my little pink pony.” Games said, calmly flying above them with a pawn in her hoof. She places it on her board and a wooden rectangle appeared. On it was a miniature maze filled with small holes in the floor. The rectangle also had two small metal pieces that looked rotatable coming from its horizontal and vertical sides.
“Alright, because you ponies are such fun, I’ma give you all another chance to get a card.” She reached behind a bush and pulled forth a small silver sphere. “So here’s the game; this ball needs to get to the other side of the maze. You do this by rotating the board with those metal pieces, but if it falls into any of the holes, you lose. Unless it’s the one marked ‘end’ that is.” She gave heartfelt smile. “Twilight, you haven’t played a solo game yet, you want to try a hoof at this?”
“What’ll you do to me if I lose?” She replied irately.
“If I told you then it wouldn’t be a surprise, now would it?” Games said before she handed the ball to Twilight. “Oh, and please, no using magic on this game. We need to have some form of challenge.”
Twilight looked back to Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Festivities had said if they won then they’d fix her friends, and this game looked like one that required basic physical skills to accomplish. That, and they weren’t getting out of this situation without complying. So she turned back to Games Master and nodded.
Games smiled and passed the maze towards Twilight. “Take as long as you need, and good luck.” With that she flew over to a nearby tree and watched from its branches. The other five ponies - particularly Rainbow Dash and Applejack - watched her carefully, to which she waved at them.
Fluttershy was the first to look away and turn back to Twilight. “You can do this,”
“Yeah, go get those eye snatchers!” Pinkie added. She was then succeeded by an encouraging smile from Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow.
Twilight nodded back to them and then turned to the maze, carefully she rotated the board horizontally to get the ball rolling down the path. From then it was a matter of adjustments and timing to make sure she avoided the holes. There were, however, a few little tricks she came across, like some of the holes closing and opening at random points or the walls lowering and raising in new spots. These were the challenging parts, though the lavender unicorn did her best to steer the ball onward.
~~~
From her tree, Games Master watched the lavender unicorn’s progress. Twilight was making good progress, and at this rate she was going to succeed in no time. Which meant that the final challenge was around the corner as well. This notion caused Games to clap her hooves together excitedly.
“Gamesy,” Her sister called, snapping Games’s attention from her opponents. Looking to her left she spied Festivities cuddling with Freddy in one of the upper branches.
“Fest, how did you get over here?”
“Magic.”
Games nodded her head. “Yeah, seems legit. Anyway, you need something?”
“Yes, Freddy was telling me about some ponies he saw looking around town earlier,” Fest replied, petting her eel affectionately. “He said they were looking for some ponies.”
Games’s smile was replaced by a flat line. “Is that so? Well then, we’re gonna have to speed things along for the finale.”
“Awwwww,” Fest whined. “But rushed endings suuuck!”
“I knoooooooow,” Games replied. The two of them looked at eachother then and rolled back laughing. “Y-you honestly think I’d ruin this fun?”
“No, but it’s fun to see what you’ll do when I suggest it.” Fest giggled.
“Evidently,” Games replied. “At any rate, we’ll be done and out before they get here. So ifen you’ll pardon me, Ahz gotz a finale to pull off!”
With that, the blue eyed pegasus returned to watching Twilight as she finished up her challenge, leaving her sister to giggle and Freddy to question the reasoning behind that odd accent at the end. These things didn’t matter to Games Master, for not a moment later there was the unmistakable sound of metal hitting wood as Twilight guided the ball into the end hole.
“Showtime,” Games whispered before flying over to Twilight, who was receiving congratulations from her friends. “Congrats, Twilight, I’d say you earned this.” With a wave of her hoof Games brought forth the final card and handed it to the unicorn. She accepted it, which caused it and the other five to all hover in the air above the ponies whose cutie marks they bore.
Games let out an excited giggle. “Alright, girls, this be it. All or nothing. One final game for the chance to win those prizes we promised.”
“But let me guess,” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “If we lose there’s no going back?”
The corners of Games’s mouth curved into a challenging grin. “You could say that. But enough talking, it’s time for action!”
With that, the green pegasus tossed her chessboard onto the ground, as well as all the pieces. Somehow they landed perfectly in place, and the entire board began to glow a bright green. Soon the glow encompassed the entire area, even going to the tree Festivities and Freddy were sitting in.
When it dimmed, everyone was gone.
