“Whichever way the wind blows, I guess it's not off-course as long as you're with your friends,” Twilight said.
“Especially if your friends have towels!” Rarity exclaimed, proudly displaying her preparedness.
Twilight gratefully accepted the offered towel and dried herself off after their unexpected and adventurous sail trip. It didn’t go as planned, but she had fun—another interesting fact she discovered being around her friends. Previously, she had any day and even any activity pre-planned to the tiniest detail, but around the Rainbooms she quickly realised that it was a wasted effort.
Maybe the lesson should be to plan out less? She had learned that multiple times by now, after all. Schedules work out only if you’re able to take every possibility into account, which wasn’t an option anymore—especially with Pinkie Pie. Of course, she still planned and scheduled as much as she could (old habits die hard), but she did it less frequently and with less intensity, and it did wonders to her freak-outs when new unpredictabilities came up.
However, she did plan to relax after the sail trip, and that wasn’t something that would be cancelled. She settled into a beach chair with a science magazine, feeling the warmth of the sun and the soothing sound of the waves. She was content with her current situation and knew that nothing could disrupt her peace.
Or so she thought.
Her magazine crumpled as something hit her head before bouncing off.
“Oops, sorry, Twilight!” Rainbow shouted.
“Ouch,” Twilight muttered as she sat up.
“Hey, Sugarcube, why don’t you join us?” Applejack asked, holding the volleyball that had hit Twilight. “The more, the merrier.”
“Maybe later.”
“Come on,” Rainbow whined. “You always refuse to play sports games, but then drag us into your chess games!”
“That’s because chess is a game proven by studies to increase—”
Before she could finish her sentence, the volleyball was thrown at her again. She shrieked and covered her head, only to be hit once more.
“We got that already.” Applejack said with a grin. “But right now, you’re the one refusing to improve your physical fitness.”
“Later, okay?” Twilight laid back on her chair. “I just had an adventure with Pinkie and Rarity already.”
“If you say so.”
As Twilight took back her magazine, she heard her friends playing the game, shouting and trash-talking each other while occasionally cheering whenever someone scored.
She sighed, knowing that another one of her future plans was now cancelled, as she had unintentionally promised to join their game of volleyball. She knew the rules, but she hadn't played it before, and now she feared embarrassing herself in front of her competitive friends.
Her mind went through possible situations where she could fail. A missed catch, a wrong throw, a miscalculated block—
She took out her phone to read through a guide on how to play this game well—or more specifically well enough.
The volleyball flew towards Twilight, and she jumped up with her arms stretched out, catching the ball.
“Well done!” Rainbow complimented, running towards the ball and hitting it towards the opponent’s side.
Twilight watched the ball closely, trying to remember where she had to stand. Was it in front to block?
Before she had time to decide, the ball hurtled towards her once again.
“Yours!” Rainbow shouted.
Twilight spread her hands out to catch the ball, but hesitated as she considered which direction to lead it. She quickly glanced at Rainbow, trying to remember the strategic guide. If she passed it to Rainbow, then Rainbow would set the ball for Twilight to spike it over the net.
“Are you kidding me?” Rainbow threw her hands up in the air.
When Twilight looked ahead, she saw that the ball had already hit the ground.
"What were you thinking, Twilight? That was the easiest play!" Rainbow scolded.
“I—I’m sorry,” Twilight ran her hands through her hair, “I was just trying to plan ahead, to set up a better strike.”
"Planning is great, but not if it costs us the game!" Rainbow retorted. "Just… serve the ball and react in the moment!"
Twilight sighed and returned to her position on the court. Applejack stepped up to serve, grinning confidently. Twilight focused on the ball, ready to make her next move.
She winced when she heard a child's cry for help. Looking behind, she saw a little boy lying on the ground in a foetal position, his body covered in severe wounds and bruises. Without hesitation, she ran toward him, the same as several others who had seen him. She was the nearest though and reached him first.
However, as she came close to him, she was suddenly floating up in the air. Something was holding her up, she felt it, but she could see no ropes or threads or any other mechanism.
And then she fell up.
As she fell upwards, a strange darkness enveloped her. Was she dead? Gravity should be pulling her down, yet she was being propelled upwards. Suddenly, she landed in water–no, a liquid. A liquid that felt wrong, utterly wrong. She didn't know why, but she feared it and held her breath. This was not where she was supposed to be.
The next moment, she felt an enormous fishing hook that had pierced her cheek, which was pulling her up. She wriggled in a desperate attempt to free herself, but her efforts were futile. She couldn’t do anything; she was too weak to push against the pull and, from the lack of oxygen, she succumbed to her instincts and breathed in the saltwater-like liquid.
It was a mistake. It burned her nose, mouth, trachea, and lungs. She felt like she was on fire, and her panic grew as the pain intensified.
She shook her legs and arms, trying to do something to get out of it, but nothing helped. Only the purple geode around her neck was lightening up, but it couldn’t help her coming out of this.
As the surroundings became brighter, she couldn’t stop herself from taking another breath, which made the burning sensation inside her only worse. The hook through her cheek was pulling even harder. She just wished for the pain to stop, to get a single breath, but what she saw was only getting worse.
There were three giant creatures, no, monsters, one of them being a lot bigger than the other two. They were looking like orange fishes, but with hands and green legs. Then she saw the rod in the hand of the bigger one, which was connected with the hook in her mouth. Connecting these two observations together, she realised what was going on and another wave of adrenalin swept over her body. Her geode was also growing even brighter, but what could she do against these giants?
One of the smaller monsters moved its face and took a closer look at her. Twilight couldn't help but feel disgusted by its hideous appearance. Its black eyes, orange scales and gross feelers on its face made her cringe. It grabbed her and removed the fishing hook from her cheek, but it wasn’t careful and only added more to the pain she was already feeling. The creature then shook her and made incoherent noises, seemingly presenting her to the big one. How was she still not unconscious?
As her geode glowed even brighter, she remembered her telekinetic power and searched for something to defend herself with. All she saw was the fishing rod that big monster was holding on. Focusing her mind, she pulled on the tip. The monster resisted the pull, but the rod eventually bent to the point of almost breaking. Due to the size differences the monster was of course way stronger, but she didn’t intend to rip the rod away from it. Instead, she released her grip, and the tip flew into the creature's face, causing it to scream in pain and let go of the rod. The creature that held her also let go of her, and she fell downwards.
She got away from them, but she was still in this strange liquid. She saw her vision slowly turning black, the same as her surroundings becoming slowly darker until she was in complete darkness.
Before she fell unconscious, she was out of the liquid and back in the familiar air, but still falling down. The next moment it was suddenly bright, then she fell to the ground hard and coughed out the liquid inside her lungs. The burning sensation slowly faded away and she could make out muffled noises of people talking to her.
“—light! Twilight! What happened? Where were you? Say something!”
Still coughing out the liquid, she looked at the person holding her shoulders.
“S—Sunset?”
Said girl sighed in relief and hugged her.
“I—No, we were worried about you. We saw you run to the child and being pulled into the air, before you out of nowhere vanished with the child. Are you alright?”
“Yes. I am now.” Twilight coughed for one last time the rest of the liquids out.
“What in tarnation even happened?” she heard Applejack ask behind her.
“And why are our geodes glowing so brightly?” Pinkie looked at the others giving her a darkened stare. “What? I’m not the only one who noticed it.”
“I— I don’t even know where to even begin…” Twilight detached herself from Sunset.
She tried to sort out in her head what happened, but remembering it only gave her the shudders and made her agitated. Even thinking about what it was like to be in that liquid made her feel the burning she felt there. Someone padded on her back.
“Take your time, we’re here for you,” Rarity said.
As her memories drifted back to the encounter with the fish monsters, she found that she could think more clearly now, as she was no longer struggling to keep from drowning. She gasped as the realisation hit her: These creatures baited humans with a child crying for help and “fished” them. Wasn’t it for her magic, she surely wouldn’t have survived.
She took a deep breath. Did this happen repeatedly?
She screamed as she felt herself being hoisted up once again, her heart racing in her chest.
“Twilight!” Her friends shouted in union.
She wriggled in the air, her adrenaline surging through her veins. She needed to escape, but how?
A hand gripped her ankle, before she was shot into the air and it went dark again.
“Hold your breath!” Twilight yelled to whoever had grabbed her, taking a deep breath herself.
“Why?” Rarity’s voice rang out.
Before Twilight could reply, they plunged into that strange liquid again. A moment later, she felt the fishing hook on her cheek too.
How did this happen? Why her? Rarity held onto her leg, but how could she help? For now, all Twilight could do was to hold her breath.
When it got brighter, Twilight looked down at Rarity, and their eyes met. She saw Rarity gasp in surprise, most likely from the giant fishing hook through the cheek, but it resulted in her breathing in the liquid, causing her hand to let go of her feet and reach for her throat.
Their distance grew instantly, and Twilight panicked. Now she would face these giants again, and all alone. This time, there would be no escape…
A crystal flew past her, slicing through the rope on the hook. She plummeted downwards, as it went dark quickly, and soon, she was back out of the liquid.
It went bright, and then she fell on a soft giant cushion.
“Get her away!” Someone screamed, and Twilight was dragged off.
Shaken but alive, she looked around and saw her friends around her.
“Thank you,” she muttered, taking a deep breath to calm her racing heart.
“Just what is going on?” Rainbow demanded. “And why do you keep disappearing, Twilight?”
"My dear, what on earth was that giant hook?" Rarity asked, her voice laced with concern. She sank to the ground, placing her face in her hands. "I... I'm just so grateful that I was able to save you," she added, her voice trembling slightly.
"What hook y'all talking about?" Applejack drawled.
“Do you mean a fishing hook?” Pinkie asked.
Sunset let out a long-suffering sigh, her eyes rolling. "Let's just let Twilight explain.”
“Right,” Pinkie chuckled nervously, and turned to Twilight. “Go on.”
Twilight exhaled one more time and told what had happened to her.
When she finished, there was a heavy silence that enveloped the group and the people around them, as everyone processed what they just heard.
“I have a feeling that it won’t stop,” Twilight said, breaking the silence.
“I fear the same,” Sunset replied. “But just what are these monsters? Where did they come from?”
“Um,” Fluttershy timidly raised her hand, “maybe it’s a manifestation of the suffering the fishes had to go through because we humans…” Her voice trailed off as she noticed the blank expressions on her friends' faces. “Uh, never mind,” she murmured, covering her face with her hair.
“It doesn’t matter why they exist,” Rainbow exclaimed and clenched her fists. “We have to stop them!”
Applejack nodded in agreement. “But how do we go about doin’ that?”
At that moment, they heard a cry for help again. They turned to see a little girl, but it was the same as before: in a foetal position and body covered in severe wounds and bruises. This time, no one dared to approach her, and those close stepped back in fear.
Twilight gritted her teeth, resisting her urge to run over to the obvious lure by these creatures. Giving a glance to her friends, she could see them being stressed by these cries too: Rainbow crossing her arms and looking away, Applejack rubbing her temples, or Fluttershy straight up covering her ears.
“Here’s what we’re going to do, we–” Twilight suggested, but before she could finish, Sunset jumped up and ran towards the child. “Sunset, no!”
A crystal materialised in front of Sunset, stopping her in her tracks.
“I can’t!” Sunset cried, trying to dodge the crystal, but Applejack held her back. “Let me go!”
“You know we can’t,” Applejack replied firmly.
“Make it stop!” Sunset yelled in distress.
Twilight watched as her friend struggled. Sunset Shimmer, the girl who had once bullied and controlled the whole of CHS, was now writhing in agony at the sound of a child's cry. If that wasn’t proof that people can change…
Luckily, someone appeared beside Sunset and placed headphones over her ears, turning up the music to a deafening volume. Looking at the person, she saw her former classmate, Lemon Zest.
“Thanks,” Twilight said gratefully.
Lemon gave a thumbs up in response.
“Alright, now…” Twilight flinched again when the girl cried out even louder. “I suggest…” She tried to say something, but couldn’t concentrate and closed her ears with her hands.
“Come on, Twilight,” she heard another former classmate, Sour Sweet, talking to her. “I can’t wait to hear your brilliant plan.” The friendly smile disappeared. “Once you get a single word out.”
“Do you even have an idea?” Rainbow stepped up in defence, but her resolve wavered as the child cried again.
“The cries for help are breaking you,” Sugarcoat said in her usual neutral tone, “so you should walk away and come up with something while we watch that nobody approaches that girl.”
“You would?” Rarity asked.
“Sure,” Indigo Zap said. “We know when to act logically.”
Twilight rolled her eyes at the jab but was grateful for the offer. She looked at the girl one last time and considered just jumping in with her friends to fight the creatures. However, the memory of the three giant monsters and the strange burning liquid made her shake her head and wave to her friends to follow her.
This time, overplanning was the only way to win.
Twilight approached the crying girl cautiously, holding out a large, bent metallic rod. Two of her friends, Rarity and Pinkie Pie, followed closely, and despite already holding tight on Twilight, they were also bound by a rope on her.
When the rod was pulled upwards, they quickly put on their scuba masks and awaited the moment they would plunge into the liquid. Once they did, they touched their flimmering geodes and ponied up.
Twilight grinned, feeling much safer and prepared now to face these giants. The hook was as planned connected with the rod, giving them the option to always let go when needed.
It got brighter, and the girls were watching upwards, searching for the creatures to appear. When they did, Twilight saw their surprised expressions.
“Welcome back,” she said, not caring if these creatures would even hear her.
Before they could react, Rarity summoned several crystals around them, which Twilight threw with her telekinesis at the rodes they had, slicing them to pieces.
The three creatures were so stunned, they didn’t prevent them in their act at first, and once they moved, their fishing tools were already all destroyed.
“You worms!” the biggest of them said. “You’ll pay for them!”
It reached out for them, but Pinkie Pie pulled out several cupcakes out of her hair, which glowed in a pink light. Twilight grabbed them with her telekinesis and launched them at the creatures, before letting go of the metallic rod.
The cupcakes exploded, and the creatures screamed in pain and frustration.
Twilight and her friends gave each other proud smiles, before the surrounding got dark and they left the liquid once and for all.
“Wohoo!” Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing up from the soft cushion beneath her.
“We did it!” Twilight removed her scuba mask and looked at Rarity, who remained lying down. “Rarity?”
“These creatures,” Rarity muttered, “were so… despicable, vile and atrocious…”
“But we defeated them!” Pinkie cheered.
“I’ll never forget these ugly faces,” Rarity continued. “Now they remain burned into my mind, to torment me forever.”
Twilight shook her head with a smile, then turned to the others who waited for them.
“Did everything go well?” Sunset asked.
“Exactly as planned,” Twilight replied, putting her hands on her hips. “And I thought today would be the day I learned that planning is bad, but I was proven wrong!”
She didn’t notice the puzzled looks from her friends towards her.
“The failed sails trip, the volleyball game, all a lie trying to convince me that planning ahead is bad!”
“Uhm, Twilight—” Applejack tried to interject, but Twilight continued on.
“Because, as these fish creatures have proven, going fully prepared towards anything is the one and only correct way to have success!”
Her friends exchanged worried expressions with each other.
“I don’t think—” Sunset began, but Twilight interrupted her.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to schedule for tomorrow, overmorrow, and the whole week.”
With determined strides, she walked away, leaving her friends in silence.
“Well,” Sunset said with a sigh, “I guess she still has to learn a lot.”
The others nodded in agreement.
The serene beach was mostly deserted, with only the rhythmic sound of the waves breaking the peaceful silence. The sun, painting the sky in brilliant shades of orange, pink, and purple, cast a warm and golden glow on the tranquil sea. And yet, the idyllic scene was disrupted when a young child materialised out of thin air, covered in bruises and wounds. The child fell to the ground and cried out for help. A group of five students nearby remained however indifferent to the child's distress.
“Looks like the Rainbooms didn't defeat them after all," Sunny Flare sneered.
“Just because another one appeared doesn't mean the Rainbooms failed," Sugarcoat retorted. “It could be a different one.”
“Whatever,” Sunny rolled her eyes. “Is the dummy ready?”
“Once you remove the fuse on it. Lemon?” Sugarcoat turned to the girl, who was still banging her head to the music in her headphones.
“Let her,” Indigo interjected, “I’ll do it.” She grabbed the dummy next to them and pushed it slowly near the child. Getting closer, she carefully removed a fuse and continued pushing it, before the dummy rose into the air, floating for a few seconds until it suddenly disappeared.
Their view upwards, the Shadowbolts waited for something to happen. Seconds passed by, then a minute, then several.
“I hope this worked,” Sunny said.
“If a 50 kg TNT equivalent bomb won’t stop it, then there is nothing we can do about it,” Sugarcoat responded.
“We can keep watching though,” Indigo said. “If they appear again, we’ll let the authorities deal with it. Lemon?”
Somehow, said girl heard her name being called this time and freed one ear.
“Help build the tents for the night,” Indigo instructed.
Several hours later, when the sun rose, the Shadowbolts packed up and went to their homes, satisfied that no child had appeared during the night.
