The Fall

The Fall

Chapter One: Prelude to Disaster

Twilight Sparkle slowly sat up, disturbing the puddle of tears forming around her. She was huddled in between two stone statues, created just under a month ago. One was of a baby dragon, whose life was lived both as her assistant and confidante. The other, of a pegasus: Twilight's only fillyhood friend, known worldwide for her action-packed adventures, a pegasus even more famous than the Wonderbolts themselves.

No, I won't cry any longer. She looked up at the two statues, wiping away tears. For them.

-----(Just under) one month ago-----

Twilight Sparkle sat on a bench, back hooves dangling over the edge, in an attempt to imitate the unicorn across from her. This is so uncomfortable! How does Lyra even sit like this?!?

"Well, that's new." Twilight looked quickly to the left to find a pony wearing a pitch-black, skintight outfit, much like Mare-Do-Well's, but without any purple.

"Oh, there you are." Twilight said to the black figure walking up to her. "So, did you find out anything?"

"Not much," replied the shady figure moving in to sit next to Twilight, "but whatever it is, it's connected to the Orbs."

Twilight adjusted her position, due to being both uncomfortable and agitated. "Well, at least you got something. Nothing in my library seems to cover it." Twilight sighed and got up off of the bench. "Oh well, I'll see you later. Same time, two weeks from now?"

The dark figure said nothing, simply removing herself from the bench and walking away. Twilight began to walk back to the library when a certain rainbow-maned pegasus flew over.

"Hey, Twilight."

Twilight said nothing, lost in her own thoughts. Thoughts of the mysterious pony, thoughts of the Orbs, thoughts of the-

"Twilight!"

"Huh?" was Twilight's response as she snapped back into reality. "Oh, hi, Rainbow. What are you-"

"Who was that at the bench?" Rainbow Dash cut her off midsentence, her own curiosity overcoming her (lack of) common courtesy.

Twilight was slightly annoyed by Rainbow, but didn't let it show in her features. "Oh, just an old friend from Canterlot. She-"

"So what were you two talking about?" asked Rainbow, interrupting her unicorn friend for the second time in 9 seconds flat.

Twilight wasn't going to let her annoyance known, knowing Rainbow would just get defensive and fly off in an instant. "Oh, just catching up on things," she replied.

A few minutes (and many 'you-didn't-have-any-friends-before-Ponyville' comments and ridiculous questions) later, the two arrived at the Ponyville library. The door was unlocked, so Twilight and her cyan friend walked in without the need to bother Spike. Twilight all but ignored Rainbow Dash, and walked over to her study table, a pile of books and a checklist of the books next to two open books and several scrolls covered in notes.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Rainbow decided to speak up. "So, uh, did you forget about th-"

"Wah!" screamed the unicorn, jumping back and hitting a nearby shelf, causing an assortment of books to fall down and conveniently hit her right on the head before hitting the floor.

Rainbow stifled her laughter and flew over to her friend. "You okay, Twi?"

It took a few seconds for the dazed unicorn to realise what had happened. "Rainbow? Oh, I thought you left."

That sentence was just too much for the pegasus, and she collapsed on the ground in a fit of laughter. "BA-HAHAHAHA!"

"Oh, haha. Very funny." Twilight got up and shot her friend a quitlaughingbeforeIthrowyouintoawall look, but her seriousness just caused her friend to start another laughing fit. "And no, I didn't forget. Here you go," she floated a book over and dropped it right onto Rainbow's head, "your very own Daring Do biography, brand new, as of last week."

At the mention of her long-awaited book, Rainbow Dash slowly ended her laughter with a few quiet coughs to play it off. "Haha, yeah, um," Rainbow plopped down in front of the book, opening it to a random page, "thanks, Twi."

A few hours of intense pictureless reading (and skipping pages that didn't involve her adventures) later, Rainbow reached a part of the last paragraph that were so interesting, she read it a whole two times.

"Daring Do was last spotted at the Equestria Libraria in Canterlot a week before the changeling incident, and..."

Twilight was precariously perched on a ladder, reaching for a book that was just far enough for her to not be able to reach it, but close enough for her to not feel the need to use magic. So close... If only I could-

"Hey, Twilight! I need a map of Canterlot!"

Hmmm, Twilight thought, Rainbow's so good at interrupting me, she can cut me off mid-thought. "Yeah, sure, here you go," she said as she floated a map over to the overly excited pegasus.

"OkayI'mgonnagonowthanksTwilightBYE!" Rainbow flew out through the library door, promptly slamming it shut as hard as she possibly could, giving Twilight the last push she needed to reach her book, and moments later, fall flat to the ground.

Rainbow was so caught up in reading her Daring Do book, she hadn't realised just how dark it was outside. Ugh, I can't even SEE Canterlot... she fumed silently, and flew back towards her cloud house. Moments after flinging herself into bed, her excitement aided her body into falling asleep as fast as it could, dreams of meeting one of her idols flooding her thoughts throughout the night.

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Rainbow woke up even more excited than she was the night before. Alright, time to fly out to Canterlot and... Her thought process trailed off as she noticed just how early she woke, the sunrise breathtaking from her high vantage point. The view would have been enough to stop any pony dead in their tracks to admire it, but then again, Rainbow Dash wasn't just any pony. The pegasus completely ignored the view and took off, headed straight for Canterlot.

Landing near the most noticeable landmark, a certain unmistakable castle, Rainbow easily drew a mental path to the Equestria Libraria after momentarily glancing at the map. With her path and mind set, she flew off towards her target.

Hmm, this can't be right... thought Rainbow as she landed in a patch of grass, the map says it should be RIGHT here. She flew around for a little while, hoping she could find the library. After a whole painstakingly boring half minute of searching, she decided to go back to where the map said the library was. Might as well look around this pile of junk.

The frustrated pegasus walked up and looked around before noticing 3 broken parts to a shattered wooden sign. After putting the three parts together, she read:

FC UESTRI/

I IBRARI-

Rainbow dropped the chunks of broken sign, backing up slowly, eyes wide in horror. No, this can't be it. It can't be. But despite herself, she found herself staring at the ruins of a once-great stone library, her only lead on the great adventurer.

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"UGH!" Rainbow yelled in frustration, sick and tired of searching for a hint as to Daring's whereabouts. "There's got to be a clue in here somewhere!"

"Did somepony say clue?"

"Wha- Oh, hey, Pinkie Pie." Rainbow said, more or less used to Pinkie appearing out of thin air. "When did you get here?"

"Well..." Pinkie started, "I was in Ponyville going over to Sugarcube Corner to make a carrot cake from carrots I got from Carrot Top's garden, and then I saw you flying really really fast out of Ponyville and I thought, 'Why's she flying away so fast? Did she get in a fight with somepony?' And the thought of you being angry at somepony made me so sad, so I followed you here to make sure nothing was wrong, and then-"

Rainbow cut her off with a hoof in the mouth. "Pinkie, I'm not mad at anypony, so you can go back to Ponyville now."

"Oh, but I can't go back now! You're looking for clues and so Detective Pinkie is here to help you!" and with that, Pinkie Pie donned her detective outfit that seemingly appeared out of thin air. "And then after we find a clue, we can go back to Ponyville and throw a super duper spectacularific party, and there'll be muffins and cupcakes and-"

Pinkie was once again cut off with a hoof shoved in her mouth. "You're not gonna leave until we find a clue, are you?" The pink menace nodded so fast, her hair smacked her in the face a few times, and Rainbow's hoof flew out of her mouth. The pegasus lowered her head and let out a long sigh of defeat. "Okay, fine. But if we don't find anything in ten minu-"

"Oooh, what's this?"

Rainbow turned around and saw Pinkie glaring at a wall, ready to pounce at any moment. She ignored Pinkie's Pinkie-ness and set out on her own, wishing to stay as far away from her as possible.

"Hey, Dashie! C'mere! I found something! Well, I dunno if it's something, but it's definitely something, y'know what I mean? Then again, it might not be..."

Dash had no choice but to succumb to the unholy terror that is an excited Pinkie Pie. "What is it, Pinkie?" Dash tried not to let her frustration known to the pink fluff next to her.

"something, but it's definitely not nothing, and if it's not nothing, then that means it's something, right? Or would that make it anythi-"

Pinkie was cut off as Dash's hoof once again entered her mouth. It tasted even worse than the other two times, kinda like oatmeal dipped in dirt and smeared in lots and lots of burnt potato skins.

"Pinkie, mind telling me what it IS you found?" Rainbow let her hoof out of Pinkie's mouth and walked over to the wall, examining it and finding nothing interesting.

"Oh, yeah!" The pony bounded over and sat next to Rainbow, "see this brick riiight here? It's bluer than the other ones! I mean, all of them are kinda blue, but this one's even bluer!" and at that, she made an almost ridiculously smug face.

Rainbow looked at it a little, and compared it to a few of the nearby bricks. Pinkie was right, it had just a LITTLE bit more blue-ness to it. Bringing forth her vast knowledge on bricks being different from other bricks, she raised one hoof and...

Poked it.

The bluer-than-the-others brick slid back into the wall and did absolutely nothing.

Rainbow looked at the decidedly stupid wall and said, "Well, that was a waste of ti-"

Just then, the floor underneath the two mares slid back and revealed a deep pit. Rainbow and Pinkie plummeted for an entire second or two, maybe three, Pinkie giggling the whole way, before hitting the ground below with simultaneous thumps.

"Ouch, mean ground!" Pinkie got up and looked at her detective outfit,noticing an itsy bitsy teeny weeny almost unnoticeable tear. "Awwww, my outfit! Bad ground, bad!" Pinkie tore off her completely ruined outfit and punched the ground as its punishment.

Looking around, Pinkie noticed they had fallen into a cave underneath Canterlot. Looking around even more, she found an entrance into a cave tunnel thingy. "C'mon Rainbow, let's go!" she bounced over towards the entrance before looking back at Rainbow.

She saw the pegasus crumpled next to a large, kinda pointy but not really pointy rock, one wing tucked up against her side, the other resting on the large, kinda pointy but not really pointy rock, bent sharply over the edge. Pinkie walked over to her cyan friend and nudged her a little bit. "Rainbow?" No response. "C'mon Dashie, wake up!" Pinkie was shaking the pegasus's shoulders frantically now, tears in her eyes from seeing her unconscious friend.

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"Uuuhhhh..." Rainbow groaned as she woke up on cold, hard ground. Slowly getting up, she looked around and found herself in a dark cave. Where am I? Something brushed up against her legs and she instantly spread her wings to fly away. When she did, however, she collapsed from a sharp pain in her right wing. "AAAHHHHH!" It took all her willpower to fight back tears, the pain worse than the time she nuked Applejack's barn. After regaining her composure, she looked at her wing, wrapped in colorful, dominantly pink, streamers that formed makeshift bandages.

"Dashie! You're awake!" was all she heard before being thrown to the ground in a massive tackle-hug. Thankfully, she didn't land on her wing, and no other part of her was hurt.

"Oh, when I saw you sleeping on the floor I was like, 'Why is Dashie sleeping on the floor? She's such a silly willy.' But then I went over and I saw your wing and I was like, 'Oh no! Her wing!'"

Rainbow was completely confused. First, her wing was broken. Second, she was in a cave. Third, Pinkie was being, well... Pinkie.

"So then I cried and cried and then I got my handy dandy party cannon and wrapped your wing in streamers so it wouldn't hurt but then you were still asleep so I fell asleep next to you 'cause it's kinda cold in here and you were pretty warm but then you were like 'AAAHHHHH!'"

Rainbow tuned Pinkie out at around 'handy dandy', choosing to look around instead of trying to make sense out of whatever it was she was talking about.

"And then I woke up and then I was so happy so I tackled you and now we're here and I'm so happy, well not happy that we're in here, but happy that you're awake again, 'cause I was so worried you wouldn't wake up again and that would've been so sad and I don't know what I would've done and-"

Rainbow's hoof tasted even worse than the third time. Now, it tasted like burnt banana peels sprinkled with deep-fried rocks and dipped in a giant bowl of mud and hair. How she knew what that tasted like, the world may never know.

"Pinkie, how about we go and look around in here?" Rainbow motioned over towards the entrance to the tunnel-thingy-whatever-it-was.

"Mmm hmm," was all Pinkie could 'say' before Rainbow withdrew her hoof, "and then when we get out, I'll throw us a big 'yay-we-got-out-of-the-dark-cold-spooky-cave' party!"

After a whole three minutes of walking, Rainbow was sick and tired of being sick and tired. She was sick and tired of Pinkie talking about who-knows-what, of not being able to fly, of the dull, aching pain in her wing, of being hungry, of-

"Oooh! A sandwich!" Pinkie bounced over to a sandwich wrapped in a shiny little bag, lying on the floor next to a wall of the cave.

"Umm, Pinkie, I don't think you should eat that," Rainbow walked up to Pinkie and looked at the sandwich, "I mean, a perfectly good sandwich in a cave like this IS kinda weird..."

"That's crazy talk. A sandwich is a sandwich!" and with her mind made up, Pinkie threw the entire thing into her mouth... And disappeared in a cloud of dull blue smoke.

"Pinkie?!?" Rainbow called, waving a hoof through the smoke, "PINKIE!!!"

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Twilight Sparkle was reading Trigonometry Tools for Totally Tubular Toads, which, despite having 'Trigonometry' in its name, was actually about the anatomy of toads, when a dull blue cloud appeared next to her. She waved a hoof through the cloud, and touched something wet and warm. "Ahh!" she yelled, more out of surprise than anything else, and retracted her hoof.

Pinkie swallowed half the sandwich and was licking her lips to get any crumbs when a violet hoof poked her tongue. It tasted like paper and strawberries, or strawberry paper... something like that. The hoof retreated as quickly as it appeared, and was accompanied by a surprised yell. She poked her head out of the blue smoky thingy she was in and yelled, "Oh, hi Twilight!" before tackling the unicorn and giving her a great big Pinkie Pie hug. "Your hoof tastes like paper strawberries."

Twilight looked up at Pinkie more confused than ever. Sure, Pinkie could be in two places at once, and float, and had Pinkie Sense, and could run faster than Rainbow Dash could fly, and could grow extra limbs and stretch them into ridiculous lengths, but she had never seen Pinkie teleport before.

"Um, Pinkie? How'd you get here?" Twilight struggled to get out of Pinkie's death hug, and fell to the floor once she was released.

"Wait, what?" Pinkie was looking around and found herself in Twilight's library. "I dunno, I just ate this sandwich and then there was this big blue smoky thingy around me and- Hey!"

Twilight 'stole' Pinkie's beloved sandwich, floating it over to a nearby table. "Okay, I'll have to look into this. Where'd you find it?"

"On the ground in a cave." Twilight facehoofed and went over to start her new research, finding a book entitled Magical Monstrosities Made of Mundane Meals.

Pinkie, however, was determined to make as many delicious treats as she could, scouring Twilight's kitchen and finding absolutely nothing she could use.

"Pinkie?" Twilight called out to her mischievous friend, not once looking up from her book.

Pinkie, of course, bounced over as happy as ever, but still kinda hungry. "Yes, Twilight?" she bounced around the unicorn, not bumping into anything despite her eyes being closed.

"Well... According to this book, that sandwich over there," Twilight nodded at the sandwich to her left, "slowly consumes your cutie mark and coat color... and then slowly eats away at you, from the inside out..." Normally, the thought of being eaten by food would've made the pink pony collapse in a giggle fit, but Pinkie slowly stopped bouncing as Twilight spoke, her smile fading and eyes losing their shine. "... and the only cure is a dragon's tooth crushed into a cauldron of pure gold."

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Rainbow Dash was huddled in a corner opposite the wall where Pinkie was just minutes ago, stroking her dirty tail in an attempt to calm herself. "Okay, Rainbow, everything's okay. You just need to get out of here and find Twilight, she'll know what to do," Rainbow started slowly calming down, "she'll know what to do."

"Hello, Rainbow Dash. I've been expecting you."

"AAAHHHHHH!" Rainbow screamed, spreading her wings and- "AAHHH!" collapsed on the floor in pain, before kicking out with her hindlegs and running as fast as she could.

"Rainbow, wait!" a voice called out to her, fading into nothing as Rainbow made her escape.

Moments later, Rainbow reached the end of the tunnel. A dark red glow emanated from the wall in front of her in three spots: two triangular holes near the top of the wall, and another jagged curve underneath. Rainbow, in her panic, saw it not as a few glowing holes, but as a demonic face, ready to consume her should she get any closer. She backed up slowly from the demon in front of her, only to bump into something behind her.

She yelped in surprise and looked back at a pitch-black figure in front of her, slightly illuminated by the glow of the demon behind them. Rainbow hung her head in defeat, no way to escape from both the shadowy figure AND the monstrosity behind her. "Okay, you got me..."

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Pinkie sat next to Twilight, deep in thought. "Well..." she started, "we can get a tooth from Spike, and we can melt some bits for the gold!"

"No, that won't work," the intelligent unicorn explained, "Bits are silver and just painted gold so everypony thinks they're worth more than they really are." Somewhere, deep in Canterlot, a royal giggle was heard by an unflinching guard.

"I heard my name," Twilight's dragon assistant entered the room, carrying a pile of books, "what are you two talking about?"

Twilight ran right up to Spike with a very creepy and expectant smile on her face, causing the baby dragon to jump back and drop his books. "Oh, nothing. Heeeyyyyy, Spike, doyouhaveanylooseteeth?"

Spike decided not to question the creepy unicorn, instead opening his mouth and pointing at one, very slightly, loose tooth. "Weh, thish wah is shorta loosh, uh noh rea- Ow!"

"Thanks, Spike!" the unicorn went from downright creepy to smug and happy as she placed the tooth into her saddlebags. "Pinkie and I are gonna go to... somewhere, make sure you clean up this mess." Twilight waved a hoof towards the books she caused Spike to drop.

Spike didn't have time to respond before the two ridiculous ponies were already outside. Mumbling incoherently, he shelved the books and went to sleep.

"Well, that was easy." Twilight was hopping alongside Pinkie, happy that they already had one of the ingredients they needed. "Now, where can we find some gold?"

"Oh oh oh! Pick me! Pick me! I bet Rarity has some!" the exuberant pony exclaimed, bounding off towards Carousel Boutique.

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The dark figure loomed over Rainbow Dash, who was now curled up in a ball, keeping her eyes shut tight in preparation for whatever was about to happen.

"... Rainbow." Rainbow Dash felt a hoof on her shoulder, and looked up to see the monster in front of her. Although, after actually eying the creature, she realised it was just a pony wearing a pitch-black outfit, and could tell by its form that it was a mare. Her mind suddenly flashed back to the previous day, when Twilight and the other pony were talking, though it didn't ease her mind to know the unicorn was friendly with the stranger. Twilight was nice to everypony, even Trixie.

"Y-yes?" was all Rainbow managed to squeeze out of herself.

Then, the black pony in front of her reached up to the back of her neck, and pulled back with a zip, the outfit loosening just a little bit. The mare then reached up to her head, and in one quick movement, removed the entire outfit to reveal the mustard-yellow pegasus within.

"D-D-D-" Rainbow stuttered as the other pegasus drew closer, revealing her spiky gray mane and compass rose cutie mark. "D-D-D- ahhhh..." The cyan pegasus passed out on the cave floor, a goofy grin plastered on her face.

"That went well," the pegasus muttered as she lifted Rainbow Dash onto her back, walking over to the 'demonic face' Rainbow was terrified of earlier. She pulled a strand of the lightest shade of gray hair she had, and placed it into the jagged curve that made up the 'mouth'. The 'mouth' then opened wide enough for her and Rainbow to just barely squeeze into, and shut itself promptly after the two were inside.

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Rainbow Dash woke up slowly, but after several minutes of staring up at nothing, she noticed a few things. For one thing, she didn't know whether or not she was staring 'up', for no matter where she looked, everything was white and gray. She was also incredibly comfortable and in pain at the same time. She got up slowly and spread her wings to fly out into the bright nothingness, and cried out as pain shot up her right wing. The mare decided right then and there that she was gonna get out of this ridiculously comfortable place... or thing, whatever. Steeling herself for whatever lay ahead, she pushed through the soft, white and gray thing, and immediately fell onto a cold, tiled floor, a surprised yelp escaping her mouth.

The confused pegasus looked around and found herself in an almost ridiculously large bedroom. A certain giant cloud she had fallen from served as the bed, though it was almost as large as the Cutie Mark Crusaders' entire clubhouse. Apart from some vending machines and a large black marble fountain adorned with a multitude of statues, the room was empty. She looked around for an exit and found a silver double door with designs etched in gold. Who the buck can AFFORD all this? she thought while walking over to the door.

Rainbow found herself gazing up at the elegant DOOR, and quickly shook her head to regain her composure. After all, the coolest pegasus in Equestria wasn't to be impressed by a simple DOOR. Hah! Just the thought made her laugh. And so, she walked up to open the door... and found it opening by itself.

The coolest, most amazing pegasus in ALL of Equestria let out a quiet squeak that put all of Fluttershy's to shame, and looked for a place to hide. The fact that the room was almost completely bare didn't help, and she had to just buck up and face the terrible, living door... without her wings... while she had NO energy... and didn't even know how to fight a DOOR...

"Rainbow? You up?" called a concerned voice. Rainbow couldn't quite put her hoof on it, but she could've sworn she heard that voice somewhere before... She thought about it for a few seconds, and all the memories from the previous day flooded through. Wait... So, if I woke up here, that means... she thought, just as a spiky-maned pegasus entered through the doorway.

Rainbow instantly let out a high-pitched squeal that she normally would've beat herself up over, but she was too busy tackle-hugging the other mare to care. "Ohmigosh ohmigosh ohmiGOSH DARI-"

"Yeah, yeah. Okay, enough hugging," the (obviously annoyed) pegasus said, shooting Rainbow a heroic pose that caused the fangirl to squeal even louder and run over for another hug.

She was cut short, however, as her idol lifted a hoof, and came skidding to a halt to bounce around the pegasus, Pinkie Pie style.

"Ohmigosh ohmigosh ohmigosh!" Rainbow practically screamed, bouncing around as her previous day's target walked into another room, smaller and more furnished than the previous. She then realised how absolutely ridiculous she was, and tried to play it off with a few coughs and a flick of her mane. "Ahem, I mean, um..." Her voice trailed off as her stomach growled furiously, reminding her that she hadn't eaten for almost two days. She gave her new 'companion' a sheepish grin as she struggled for a way to talk. "S-so, um... You got any... uh... food? Yeah, food! That's it."

With an over-exaggerated roll of her eyes, the other mare pointed a hoof at a buffet table covered in all types of food: waffles, sandwiches, salads, fruits, pies, donuts, danishes, crepes, cakes, cupcakes, sarsaparilla, cider, and so, so much more. "Dig in," was all Rainbow needed to hear to run off towards the table and stuff her face full of so much food, she almost couldn't chew at all and some of it plopped right out of her mouth and onto the shiny linoleum floor below.

After stuffing her face for a solid twenty minutes, she hobbled over to her hostess, who was reading some scrolls or whatever, with a thick stone tablet next to her.

"So, uhm, Daring... What's, uh..." Rainbow desperately tried to strike up a conversation, looking around and focusing on the stone tablet. "What's that say?" she said, unable to lift a single hoof, her food coma settling in.

"Hmm? Oh, it says, 'She who creates dragon's gold, will bring about terror untold,'" Daring replied, not looking up from her scrolls.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I dunno."

Ranbow almost panicked; her conversation was falling apart way too soon. "So, um... What're you doing?"

"Waiting for you to digest the food you inhaled, then we're going to see Twilight."

Rainbow was freaking out now. Not only did her idol seem uninterested in talking to her, but she'd rather talk to Twilight, an egghead, instead of totally awesome and cool Rainbow Dash. So instead of thinking too much, she let her food coma take over and settled into a deep, dreamless sleep.

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"I'm terribly sorry girls, but I haven't had any gold to work with in weeks! I haven't been able to finish any of my dresses!" she cried, pointing a hoof towards several dresses, all devoid of gold lace or gold earrings or gold whatevers. "Oh, it's just the WORST. POSSI-"

"Yeah, I'm just gonna stop you right there, Rarity." Twilight frantically crushed Rarity's overly-dramatic act. "But do you know if anypony else has any gold?"

The living marshmallow named 'Rarity' thought for a second, then nodded and nonchalantly waved a hoof around. "Yes, I'm sure Applejack has some, what with all those rodeo trophies and-"

"Kthanksbye! C'monTwilightlet'sgo!" Pinkie practically threw Twilight out of the boutique and dragged her off to Sweet Apple Acres.

Many a moment later...

"Sorry Twilight, Ah sell all mah trophies to help fix up the farm." Applejack vaguely waved a hoof at some rusty equipment and cracked barrels piled up against a barn missing a door and part of a wall.

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'm sure we can find somepony who has some spare-"

"Okayc'monTwilightlet'sgo!" Pinkie launched herself at Twilight, grabbing one of her hooves and pulling her towards Ponyville.

Once the two reached their destination, Pinkie finally released Twilight from her death grip.

"What was that all about, Pinkie?" Twilight was rubbing her hoof to relieve the pain, even though it didn't really help at all.

"Oh, yeah!" Pinkie nodded her head towards her flank, "my cutie mark is kinda almost not there anymore so we really need to hurry before I lose my color 'cause I don't wanna be gray I mean I was already gray once before but that was differe-"

"Well in that case, maybe we should go find some gold." Spending almost the whole day with Pinkie was a very... taxing experience, and Twilight was about to snap. Although, most of the annoyance she had turned to concern when she had to squint and look really closely to see Pinkie's cutie mark.

"Oh yeah I forgot about that, let's go!" and with that, Pinkie bounced over to a jewelry store she somehow knew was open and sold gold necklaces.

A few moments later...

"What do you mean, 'not real gold'?!?" Twilight turned all her concern and annoyance into pure anger at the jewelry store owner.

"Well, they DO look like pure gold, and cost 50% less than REAL gold. Like killing two birds with one stone, as I always say."

Twilight was sick and tired of their search for gold. Mostly tired, though. So tired that all her anger made her more tired and she gave up on finding any gold. Hanging her head, she turned to her slightly-less-pink-than-normal friend. "Come on Pinkie, let's go."

"Awww, but it's not even dark out and I'm so hungry and- oh is that why we're going? Where are we gonna go? I kinda feel like eating a- Hi Zecora!" the pink party pony pranced up to the zebra.

"Oh, hello, Pinkie Pie. Hello, Twilight."

Twilight just sat there, staring at Zecora as if she were some kind of ancient magic book.

"Twilight, what is the reason why you stare? I thought you were used to my striped hair."

Just then, Twilight grinned the grinniest of grins. A grin so grinny, it rivaled even Pinkie's grinny grins. "Heeeyyyyyy, Zecooorrrraaaaa... CanIhaveoneofthoseringsonyourneck?!?"

Zecora looked at her neck, then to Twilight, then to her neck again. "Ahh, a golden ring is what you seek. But, all these rings are mine to keep."

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"Wonder where she could be..." Daring pondered. Laying relaxedly, doodling on a Daring Do and the Mysterious Artifact book, she seemed to be in no hurry at all.

Rainbow, on the other hand, was the epitome of impatient. She was flying around in circles, grunting progressively louder every few seconds, as if making sure Daring knew how annoyed she was was more important than even napping.

Maybe fixing up her wing wasn't the BEST idea... Daring mulled. Now that Rainbow was free to fly, she seemed to make it a point to bump into absolutely everything that could possibly fall, be it a book or a cup or even an entire shelf.

Daring was sick of the flying menace, and with a simple "Hey," Rainbow stopped flying and rushed over to Daring, a hopeful shine in her eye.

"Umm, maybe you should... I dunno, look for her?"

Rainbow really wanted to stay with the second-most amazing pony in Equestria- right behind her, of course- "But-"

"I can't go wandering around, ponies will recognize me and I'd never get anywhere." When Rainbow hesitated, Daring felt her vast stores of patience running low. "Now go and ask around, somepony's bound to know where she is."

"Ugh, fine..." the overly-energetic pegasus hung her head, but decided to buck up and take one for the team.

Approximately one hour, twenty-seven minutes, fifty-six seconds, and one stereotypical crash into a bookshelf later...

"Sorry Daring, couldn't find her." Now was Rainbow's chance to actually talk to Daring! Nothing stood in her way. Daring looked ridiculously bored, and was even flying around looking for something to do. "So, anyways. You wanna-"

"Shh!" Daring spun around, listening intently. "Did you hear that?"

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"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY'RE ALL YOURS!" Twilight yelled, finally breaking into full-on rage mode, "WE NEED ONE TO-" the purple unicorn cut herself off, looking at Zecora's hut. When did we get here? I don't remember coming over here... She then realised how she'd been acting and smiled sheepishly at the zebra, suddenly interested in the dirt beneath her hoof. "Oh, um... sorry about that."

Zecora simply chuckled and let the two (strange) ponies in. "Here is a ring for Pinkie's potion, but what has set these events in motion?"

Twilight blinked a few times after hearing that. Have I really been yelling the SAME THING all this time? Twilight shrunk back a little, now interested in a little speck of dirt on the floor of the hut.

"Oh, I know!" Pinkie proudly stated, head held high. "I was in a cave and saw this SUPER-delicious-looking sandwich, and I was sooo hungry, so I ate it and then I was at Twilight's and then she rea-" Pinkie was suddenly really confused. Did Rainbow Dash and Twilight want her to eat their hooves or something? And Twilight's hooves didn't taste like strawberry paper anymore, but more like... dirt and juniper berries, or something.

Zecora couldn't help but chuckle a little and shake her head a few times. "Haha! Eating off the floor, silly you, is something that you should not do."

"Yeah, well, anyways..." Twilight lost interest in the floor now, stepping forward a little bit. "Do you mind making this? I really don't wanna mess anything up..."

With a nod, Zecora took Twilight's Magical Monstrosities Made of Mundane Meals book and opened it to the bookmarked page. She then melted one of her pure gold rings in the cauldron and went over to a mortar and pestle to crush Spike's tooth. After the tooth was a nice, white, cocaine-like sugar-like powder, she poured it into the gold, stirred clockwise 4 times, counter-clockwise thrice, and spit into it.

The cauldron glew a faint beige, quickly spreading outwards from the dragon's gold inside. As the beige sphere spread outwards, everything left in its wake was turned gray, lifeless, and still. Time slowed to a halt within the ever-increasing confines of the sphere, leaving Zecora, Twilight, and a floating Pinkie Pie lifeless and still.

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"Sorry Daring, couldn't find her." Now was Rainbow's chance to actually talk to Daring! Nothing stood in her way. Daring looked ridiculously bored, and was even flying around looking for something to do. "So, anyways. You wanna-"

"Shh!" Daring spun around, listening intently. "Did you hear that?" She noticed, outside the window, a beige ball growing from somewhere in the Everfree Forest. She knew what she had to do, but first she had to save Rainbow Dash.

"No, I didn't he-" Rainbow flew back as Daring tackled her to the ground and shoved a bright red ball into her mouth.

"Quick, you need to-" and then Daring was encompassed by a wall of energy that passed right through Dash, leaving her stranded underneath one of her idols. At first, Rainbow thought Daring was just being weird, but realised that she had gone cold, eyes unblinking, and no matter what the pegasus did, wouldn't move an inch.

"Daring?!?" the lone mare gazed into the white, empty eyes of her new acquaintance. "DAAARRRRRIIIIIINNNNG!"