Not much happened during the tea party, with the minor exception of Rainbow trying to find a way to pounce Midnight one way or another. As the cyan pegasus continued to squirm within her chair, Discord simply checked his book again. He frowned for a moment but soon shrugged as he decided to go with it, and after checking that everybody had finished their meals, the draconequus stood up with a smile on his face.

“Alright everypony. The time has come to officially start! But first of all, Midnight, can you please stand up over here?” The chaotic creature ordered as the blue pegasus slowly stood up. As he passed by though, Rainbow immediately jerked her seat back with the intent to grab him by the barrel, but to her surprise, the blue pegasus managed to dodge her tackle attack, leaving her on the ground with no way to lift herself. Discord smiled as Midnight stood in front of him.

“What do you want me to do Discord?” Midnight asked as the discordant figure simply snapped his fingers and produced a Spinning Prize Wheel, with names scribbled on each section.

“I want you Midnight to spin this wheel! Whatever is chosen at the end will be your first challenge!” Discord exclaimed, and Midnight’s ear flicked when he heard the word challenge.

“That sounds cool.” The male pegasus commented as he walked towards the wheel. On it were a few names, some of them being ‘Zafire’, ‘Pete’, ‘Tsaukpaetra’, ‘Sharaz’, and ‘Hanzal’. He raised an eyebrow, feeling as if he knew those names, before shrugging as he spun the wheel. The colors and names on it soon became a blur, mesmerizing everybody with its swirls. As the wheel slowly slowed down, the names became visible once again, and just when it seemed that it would rest on ‘Zafire’, the tick moved one last time before landing on ‘Hanzal’.

“Now let’s see what the ‘Hanzal’ plan will bring us.” Discord said as he peeled off the name from the wheel before turning it into a piece of paper as he read it. “Hmm…. Seems like an easy beginner challenge. Let me just plug the NNN modpack along with the O&O modpack…” The chaotic creature murmured as he slipped the paper into a printer, and suddenly the world shook. A warm glow encompassed all of them minus Fluttershy, whom Discord simply gave a small smile before they all disappeared.

When they reappeared on the ground, the four players could see how their environment had changed. The warm cozy walls of Fluttershy’s cottage were replaced with a dark forest, similar to the Everfree, but with a more pleasant feeling. Ordinary critters roamed the ground and all seemed tranquil.

“Hey. What’s that?” Midnight asked out loud after turning himself around. The rest looked as well, only to become shocked as they saw a massive tower looming in the distance. The draconequus simply chuckled.

“Apparently a guy named‘Hanzal’ proposed a ‘damsel in distress’ challenge. And well I’m sure you two guards will be able to overcome whatever obstacle you two face.” Discord stated, causing Moonlight to momentarily smile.

“Alright! Sounds like an easy rescue miss- wait, you said two guards?” Moonlight asked before her face was filled with dread as a small orb appeared within Discord’s left hand. He knelt before her and pressed it against her.

“Bye!” Discord yelled, before laughing as Moonlight was suddenly teleported away. Midnight and Shining soon saw a flicker of light appear at the top of the tower, and soon they heard Moonlight roar in rage.

“REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

The volume was so loud that Discord’s ears popped out of their usual position before they formed wings and took off. The chaotic creature rolled his eyes before forming new ones and placing them back where they belonged.

“I’m pretty sure she’ll easily escape from that place.” Midnight commented, only for Discord to laugh.

“Nah, I don’t think so. If Celestia and Luna couldn’t escape from some of my more ‘easier’ mazes, then I doubt your Special OPs marefriend could do the same.” The discordant figure said, giving Midnight a pat in the head. The blue pegasus rolled his eyes, and everything seemed fine when Shining realized something.

“Wait. You said ‘you two’ but even after taking Moonlight out, we still have three…” The white stallion’s voice trailed off as he noticed Rainbow hovering over Midnight, ready to pounce on the blue pegasus the moment he turned around. “Of course… I’ll go ahead and deal with this right now…” Shining stated, charging up his horn before suddenly getting interrupted as Discord blocked the tip with a finger.

“I want to mention some stuff before the games begin. I haven’t playtested much of this, so whatever happens, is not on me. Also, we’re still in Equestria in a pocket dimension. You two could fail the challenge as in taking more than longer to complete it or not reaching a requirement, and it’s fine as the games will continue until you’ve reached a quota, but if you end up failing NNN itself, well, you know what will happen.” Discord said with a smirk, before snapping his fingers and causing Rainbow to teleport away. “Now let the games begin!” The draconequus yelled before disappearing into thin air, just in time as they heard Rainbow release a rageful scream of her own. Shining quickly hurried to Midnight who was admiring the castle.

“Midnight we don’t have time, and we need to run away from Rainbow.” The white stallion stated as he dragged Midnight up, giving him the signal to fly alongside him. The blue pegasus remained confused though

“Wait, why?” Midnight asked. Shining Armor quickly thought of something that could convince Midnight to run from Rainbow at all costs, even if he had an innocent mind. An idea came into his mind and the white stallion smiled.

“Basically it’d be Moonlight tickling you, but a thousand times worse,” Shining responded. Midnight’s demeanor quickly changed, and while he still held a neutral face, the Captain of the Royal Guard could tell that fear had gripped his heart at the thought of going through an event that would make Moonlight’s Twelve Hour Tickle Session pale in comparison.

“I-I-I… No. Rainbow’s not like that! She’s the Element of Loyalty! She’s supposed to protect Equestria and its citizens! She can’t be evil, can she?” Midnight asked with a hint of worry, and Shining was about to respond when they suddenly heard a malicious voice speaking in the background, causing them to freeze.

“Hey, Midnight… I think you have something that I want…”

The blue pegasus slowly turned around and froze as he saw Rainbow, who was covered with random sticks and leaves, wearing an expression that could only be described as pure insanity. She licked her lips like a predator as she stalked towards Midnight, causing the blue pegasi to back away before he extended his wings and bursting into a frantic flight.

“YEP, SHE’S EVIL!” The blue pegasus yelled as he quickly went towards the trees, knowing that flying in a straight open field would give Rainbow the best advantage as she’d quickly catch up to him. Immediately the air shook as the cyan pegasus raced after him, ignoring Shining Armor who quickly turned to follow Rainbow, with the goal that if Midnight got captured, the white stallion could quickly come to his aid.

As the chase continued, the frightened blue pegasus weaved around the branches, pulling all that he could so that they might be able to hit the cyan pegasus straight in the face. However, nothing was making much of an impact as Midnight noticed her gaining speed.

“Damn! This is REALLY bad! Even at maximum speed, I’m nowhere near supersonic, and that’s after going into a steep dive! What can I do? What can I do!?” The young colt thought to himself, yelping as he felt the speed demon nabbing at his tail, nearly succeeding in pulling him down. Nearly touching the ground, Midnight was about to fly back up high until he felt somebody grab him by the barrel, causing him to yell in surprise as he came crashing down onto the ground.

Immediately the young colt grabbed the nearest stick next to him, right in time to block the insane pegasus by hitting her in the head, causing her to become dazed. He tried to burst into another flight, only to be dragged down by the tail as Rainbow grappled him again, prompting the blue pegasus to hit her in the head again.

“Get over here!” Rainbow yelled as she once again intercepted the fleeting stallion when suddenly she was knocked into the trees by a ray of magic. Midnight looked and let out a relieved sigh as he noticed Shining Armor, the white stallion quickly binding the mare next to a tree with a pair of magical handcuffs.

“Phew. That was close. You ok Midnight?” The stallion asked as they began to run through the forest again, without the threat of Rainbow Dash stalking them for a time. Midnight nodded.

“Yep. Rainbow needs a psychiatrist though.” The blue pegasus replied as they soon exited the thick vegetation and found themselves in front of the large castle doors. Before even attempting to go through the main entrance, Midnight flew up in the sky and inspected every window, only to see that they’ve been boarded with metal. “Well I thought we’d be able to cut some time by going through the windows, but it looks like we’ll have to go through each floor, room by room. Reminds me of the time you introduced me to O&O. It was fun.” The blue pegasus said, causing the white stallion to smile as memories passed by.

“Yep. But right now, we have to free Moonlight before something unexpected happens. Are you ready Midnight?” The Captain of the Royal Guard asked as he prepared his horn with magic. Midnight simply grinned at the thought of finally getting a real challenge, given the potential O&O gameplay style, as he prepared to open the door.

“Ready!” The blue pegasus yelled, and thus the doors were opened and the two rushed inside to face whatever laid ahead of them.

Author's Note

Looks like Midnight and the rest barely dodged a bullet, had the tick landed on Zafire, let's say things would've been over very quickly!