The Adventures of Chaos and Nightmares

“Hey you three. Twinkle’s here,” said Discord, with a look of disgust.

“Great! Thanks Uncle Discord!” said Jewel. “Hey Twinkle,” Jewel greeted her best friend. “You wanna play Capture the Flag in the ball pit?”

“Absolutely,” she replied. She then narrowed her eyes at Zany. “As long as I don’t have to be on his team.”

Zany grumped. “Don’t worry Twinkle Toes, it’ll be boys versus girls. I already got Screwy and Mothy to play with us,” and pointed at the couch where they were sitting and waiting.

Then Screwy stood up. “The teams will be fair. Three girls, three boys. Each team gets one chaotic creature, plus the girls team gets an alicorn, and the boys team gets a changeling. Applespike has already promised not to use fire. Oh, and no teleporting spells of any kind at all. That includes teleporting yourself or other ponies or changelings. That sucks the fun right out of the game. Got it?”

“Yep.”

“Great. Let’s get started,” said Screwball. She poofed up two flags, one purple, and one green. She handed the green one to Mothball, and teleported them to the ball pit. “Okay, she said. “Boys, you have two minutes to hide your flag anywhere on the right side of the pit,” and she created a wall in the middle of the ball pit. She pointed to the right side of the pit. “Starting now!” The boys scrambled into the ball pit and came back up a minute and a half later. “Okay,” said Screwy. She handed a timer to Mothball. “Set it for two minutes. I have it rigged, so when the two minutes are up, we’ll be teleported back to this spot even if we aren’t finished hiding the flag.”

“Got it, said Mothy. “Ready, set, go!”

The girls dove into the left side of the ball pit. “Where should we hide the flag?” asked Twinkle. “It’s just a huge sea of colorful balls. It all looks the same!”

“Don’t worry,” Screwy said. “I used to play this all the time. I have an idea,” she said, and made a tunnel through the pit going straight down. “We’re going to hide our flag at the very, very bottom of the pit!”

“Ooh, I like it,” Twinkle said. “By the way, Jewel, do you know how to make a tunnel through the pit with your magic? If you don’t, I can show you.”

“That’s okay Twinkle. Gemstone showed me how a while ago. She said she had to learn the time she came over to play Capture the Flag!” Jewel said, and laughed.

“Perfect. That means we can split up, and nopony will drown in a sea of balls.” The boys only have Zany who can do that. That gives us a huge advantage, Twinkle thought. Unless, “Hey Screwy, can Mothball tunnel through the balls like this?”

“Uh huh. I taught him a long time ago. Oh, and we’re here at the bottom.” She planted the flag on the ground and created an air pocket around it. “We’d better get back up before the timer runs out,” she said.

Twinkle nodded, but she was thinking, Drat. The boys team has two ponies- er, creatures, who can do that. Well, we still have a small advantage. This is my chance to finally beat Zany at something! We never have enough time to actually finish any of our contests. This time I will win. I want to have a victory of some kind before I go back to Canterlot. Maybe I’ll sabotage Zany’s dreams if we don’t win, Twinkle thought with an evil grin. She was a dreamwalker like Luna. That was what her cutie mark really meant, but nopony except Celestia, Jewel, and Luna, her mentor knew. She hadn’t even told her mother, much to her disappointment. The princesses had thought it best not to tell anypony until she had better control over her power. The only reason Jewel knew is because she had entered her dream last month to help her escape from the awful ponies she had been modeling for. Twinkle sighed. That had been an adventure, especially at the end when she and Zany had had their little duel in her tower. She shivered thinking of the kisses they had shared. They had been so indescribably wonderful. Ever since that day, she had wanted more. Unfortunately their parents were mortal enemies. Oh well. Twinkle sighed again.

“We’re done!” Screwy shouted when they reached the top. Twinkle liked Screwy and her husband, Mothball, despite her dad being her mom’s mortal enemy.

“Great,” said Zany with a cocky grin. “So can we start now?

“Yep!” said Screwball. She banished the timer and the wall. “Ready, set, go!” They all dove into the pit.

“So what’s the plan guys?” asked Jewel.

“I’ve got an idea,” said Twinkle. “Jewel, you guard the flag. Remember, no blocking spells, but you can use things to build barriers. Screwy and I will try to find the other flag and hold off the boys. If you need building materials to build walls, let us know now so we can conjure them.” Twinkle let a mischievous smile creep onto her face. “We are going to win.”

“Great plan, Twinkle,” Jewel said. Hey Screwy, can I have some licorice and gumdrops? I have an idea.”

“Here ya go,” Screwy said. “These should be enough. Before we go, let me cast this spell.” Her eyes glowed white for a second, then returned to normal. “There. Now we can communicate with each other just by thinking what we want to say. You have to think of the pony’s name first so they can hear you,” she explained. “Now let’s get started. Come on Twinkle.” The two dove out into the pit, away from the flag. “So, Twinkle, what are you planning to do?”

“I’m not sure,” the little purple alicorn admitted. “I want to finally beat Zany at something. Nopony ever let us finish our contests when we were younger.” She scowled at Screwy.

“Sorry,” Screwball apologized. “But you two were going to burn the house down.”

“Yeah, yeah, fair enough. Come on; let’s win this thing!” They each went in a different direction.

Meanwhile, on the boys team, “Okay guys. What’s the plan?” Mothy asked the two half-ponies.

Zany answered, “Well I think Applespike should stay here and guard, since he can’t tunnel through the pit like we can. Us two should try to find the other team’s flag and hold them off if we find them.” Zany conjured up three earpieces and handed them to the other two. “Now we can talk to each other. Come on, let’s go!”

Back at the girls’ flag, Jewel was busy building a licorice fence. She also built several licorice slingshots and set them carefully aside with her ammunation pile of gumdrops. She was ready.

Screwy was maneuvering her way through the ball pit when she came across Mothy. She smirked. “Well hello there. Mind if I pass?”

“No. No way am I letting you past me,” Mothball said.

“Is that so? And how are you planning to stop me?” Screwy asked with a giggle.

“Like this!” Mothball pulled her toward him and kissed her, catching her off guard, but after a second, she smirked and pulled him closer. When they pulled apart, she smirked again and said, “That was amazing, but I really must be going now.” She catapulted herself over him, and prepared herself to drill through the pit. “And thanks to you, I now know exactly where to go.”

“Wait, what?” Mothball asked, confused. “Wait, no! You
didn’t . . . Did you?”

“Well of course I did,” Screwball snorted. “You really thought I wasn’t going to peek into your memory when I had the chance? Anyway, bye-bye and good luck.” She started drilling away through the balls.

Mothball groaned and facehoofed. How could I have fallen for that? He sighed. Guess I’d better keep looking.

Screwball thought, “Jewel, Twinkle, I just found out where the boys’ flag is!”
“Great where is it?” Twinkle thought back eagerly.

“It’s in the exact center of the right side. Center to the top and bottom, and center to the sides.”
“Good to know,” Jewel thought. “Either of you two come across anypony trying to get to our side?”
“I saw Mothball,” Screwy thought back. “That’s all, although knowing Zany, he probably made himself invisible.”
Ooh, good idea, Twinkle thought to herself. I’ll have to try that one.
Jewel and Twinkle thanked Screwy, and Twinkle cast an invisibility spell on herself and started making her way to the center of the right side, knowing Screwy was doing the same. On the way, she spotted Zany. Guess he didn’t make himself invisible, Twinkle thought, amused. But, she noticed he was heading straight toward their flag hiding place. “Jewel, Zany’s coming!” She thought desperately. Then she noticed Zany was picking up speed. She gasped. Zany whipped himself around.

“What was that?”
Twinkle smiled to herself. Yes, this could work. All I need to do is distract him for a while, she thought, and revealed herself.

“Just me,” she said primly.

Zany gasped. “Twinkle?”

“Yes, is that a problem?”

Zany groaned. “Why you?”

“What’s wrong with me?”

“Nothing! Just,” Zany paused. “Do you remember what happened that day about a month ago in your tower?”

Twinkle nodded, all thoughts of distracting him forgotten. “Of course I do. I think about it all the time.”

“Do you ever wish?” Zany hesitated, but Twinkle knew what he meant.

“Yes,” she stated simply.

Zany grinned. “Then what would you think if I did this?” He moved toward her and kissed her on the lips. Twinkle’s eyes widened, but after a moment, she closed them and kissed him back. When they pulled away, they both just stared at each other for a minute. Finally, Zany broke the silence. “Well?”

In answer, Twinkle kissed him a second time. This time, when they pulled apart, Twinkle said, “We should get going. We don’t want our teams to notice we’re gone.”

Zany nodded. “Okay. Bye.”

“Bye.” Twinkle watched him leave, a bit sadly, but she shook herself out of it and started tunneling through the balls to find Screwball and the boys’ flag.

Screwy was hiding in the balls just outside the boys’ air pocket for their flag. She could see Applespike guarding it, and she was getting frustrated. Where is Twinkle?! Seriously! What’s keeping her? Just then, Twinkle appeared behind her, breathing heavily.

“Sorry I took so long,” she said between breaths.

Screwball was about to yell at her, she glanced back at Applespike and created a soundproof bubble around them before asking, “What took so long?”

Twinkle looked uncomfortable; her pupils were the size of pinpricks. She knew Screwy could tell when ponies were lying. “Um, I got held up by Zany.” This wasn’t a lie, and Screwy didn’t detect one.

She rolled her swirly eyes. “What did he do this time?”

“Um,” Twinkle’s pupils were now barely visible. She knew Screwball could tell when ponies were lying, but lying was all she had. Sometimes Screwy let it go. Although usually not when it concerns Zany. “Nothing?”

Screwball narrowed her eyes. If Twinkle was lying about something Zany did to her, it must have been bad. “Come on, Twinkle. What did he do?”

“Nothing! Well, nothing bad,” she mumbled.

Screwy thought, Well, she wasn’t lying about it not being bad. I should probably trust her. Anyway, we have a game to win. “Fine.” Twinkle visibly relaxed. “But we’re going to talk about this later. Remember, you, Jewel, and I are having a sleepover tonight.

And just like that, Twinkle tensed up again. But she shook herself off. Maybe Screwy will forget if we win the game. So with a determined look on her face, she said, “Come on. Let’s go get that flag!”

Screwy smiled. “Come on. You distract Applespike while I sneak around the back and grab the flag. Once you see I’ve made it back into hiding, meet me back here. Then we can super speed tunnel back to our spot using your wings. Got it?”

“Got it.”

Screwy grinned. “Ready? Let’s go!”

Twinkle darted out in front of Applespike. “Ha! Found it.”

“Oh, no you don’t. You are not getting past me.”

Twinkle could see Screwball grabbing the flag. She smirked. Just a few more seconds. “You sure about that?” she asked, flapping her wings.

Applespike’s eyes widened as he realized she could just fly over him. “No! You wouldn’t!”

Maybe I would, and maybe I wouldn’t.” She saw Screwy dive back into hiding. “But I’m not gonna stick around to find out,” she says and dove back into the pit herself.

“Huh?” Applespike asked himself, confused. He turns around and gasps. “Where’d the flag go?” As soon as he realizes what had happened, he grabs his earpiece. “Zany! Mothball! They got the flag. Probably on their way back to their spot now. Can you try to find and stop them? I heard them super speed tunneling straight through the center, so you’d better move fast.”

Mothball grabbed his own earpiece. Got it! Zany, meet me at the exact center, okay? And move fast!”

“Roger that. I’m on my way.” When they got to the center, they almost immediately saw Screwy and Twinkle super speed tunneling through the balls and about to run them right over.

“Ahh!” They stopped as fast as they could, but it was a close one. Oh, come on,” Twinkle complained. “We’re so close!”

“Not so fast!” Zany exclaimed. You're not getting past us.”

Screwy smirked. “Oh we’re not, are we? Then just watch this! Twinkle, up!” Screwy handed her the flag.

Twinkle immediately understood. Using her wings, she propelled herself upward, and, creating a wide tunnel with her magic, super speed tunneled back to the girls’ flag territory.

“Uhh!” Zany grumbled. I should have known she’d do that. Come on Mothy. Let’s catch her.”

Soon everyone except Jewel (Applespike had finally caught up to the rest of them, not being able to tunnel through slowed you down a bit) was chasing everyone else all through the ball pit, but finally, Twinkle burst into the girls’ air pocket and cried out, “Girls win!”

Zany, Applespike, and Mothball groaned. “Aw, we were so close,” Mothy said.

Applespike nodded but said, “It’s okay. We’ll do better next time.”

Zany agreed. “Yeah. I hope we can play again soon.” He glares at Twinkle. “And I’m not losing to her again. I have to redeem myself!”

But he gave a slight smile to Twinkle when the conversation moved on to Jewel. Screwball saw this, and she had also noticed the glare her brother had given Twinkle just then was not as strong as other times. She also thought back to earlier that day when Twinkle had acted strangely after saying she got held up by Zany. Thinking back even farther, she realized that Zany and Twinkle had not been the same around each other for about a month now, ever since that incident with Jewel and those awful model ponies. She shivered. Those ponies were really awful. She wondered what had happened between her brother and Twinkle that had caused them to act weirdly.

“Screwy? Screwy?!” said a voice, breaking into her thoughts.

“Yeah?”

“We’re going up to the kitchen to get some snacks. Are you coming?” asked Mothball.

“Oh! Yeah, I’m coming,” she said, following them. Tonight, Twinkle and I are going to have a talk, she thought.