Stranger Than Dictation

Chapters

The Premise
The Monster
The Heroine
The Damsel
The Lawmare
The Discovery
The Resolution
The Appendix

The Premise

Twilight Sparkle was fuming. Her slow, heavily-paced stride through the main thoroughfares of Ponyville itself was to drive most of the other residents to steer clear of her path and avert their gaze from her grimace.

“Hey, Twilight!”

Twilight didn’t even turn to look. “Not now, Pinkie,” she mumbled to herself.

Pinkie Pie bounced over to Twilight, a plate of baked goods managing to stay balanced on her backside despite the jostling from her pronking. “What’s up, Twilight?” Pinkie asked, beaming at her friend. “Want to try a free sample from the Cakes?”

“Pinkie, I’m not in the mood,” Twilight uttered through clenched teeth, her pace unbroken by Pinkie’s interruption.

“Oh, come on! One of Mrs. Cake’s cookies will cheer you right up!”

“Look, Pinkie. I’ve had a hard morning. All I want to do is get back to the library and take a long bath...”

Pinkie tilted her head. “Oh, I guess you are mad. I can almost see a little black raincloud over your head—”

“That is a little black raincloud, Pinkie.” On cue, a small burst of lightning lashed out at Twilight’s mane, fizzling the hair a bit more.

“Oh!” Pinkie was for once surprised, jumping back as the cloud began to rain, dampening Twilight’s mane against her neck. She mulled for a moment. “Uh, so—”

Twilight had yet to break her pace. “Remind me never to try to use my magic around Rainbow Dash when she’s trying to manipulate the weather.”

Pinkie was at a loss for words, and had dropped into a more casual pace next to Twilight. “Is there anything I can do?”

Twilight sighed, finally breaking her stare and looking towards her friend. “Just leave me alone for today, okay? I know you want to cheer me up, but I just need to fume for a bit. By myself.”

“Well, if you really think so...”

“I know so, Pinkie. Everypony just has one of these days, and I guess today’s that day for me.” Another miniature bolt of lightning punctuated her sentence. Twilight blew out the small flame that it lit on her mane.

“I understand, Twi—” Pinkie’s face suddenly lightened. “Oh, that’s right! Derpy came by and said a package for you from Canterlot arrived today!”

“Well, that’s one thing going right. Did Spike get it?”

“No, she couldn’t find him, so she left it at the post office. She’d thought you might have been at Sugarcube Corner but you weren’t there either, so she told me to tell you.”

Twilight gave Pinkie a brief smile. “Thanks, Pinkie. Now, if you’ll excuse me...”

“Sure thing, Twi! Maybe you’ll want some cake later!” Pinkie called out as Twilight kept up her pace through town. She kept watch as Twilight turned a nearby corner. “I sure wish there was something I could do to help her,” she commented to nopony in particular before turning back towards Sugarcube Corner.

Once there, Pinkie returned inside to restock the sample tray from freshly-baked goods that Mrs. Cake was preparing. Mr. Cake was nearby, watching over Pound and Pumpkin as the two toddlers played in their crib.

“You seem awfully quiet, dear,” the older mare said as she placed another tray of cookies into the oven.

“Oh, sorry, Mrs. Cake. I was just thinking about poor Twilight. She seemed really upset and I couldn’t think of anything to cheer her up.”

Mrs. Cake frowned. “Not even one of my freshly baked cookies? She must have been really angry, I’ve never known her to turn down a treat like that.”

Pinkie nodded as she refilled her sample tray. “Yeah, I think she was trying to do some magic around Dashie as she was controlling the weather.”

Both of the Cakes gasped at that. “Oh dear, didn’t anyone tell her that—” Mr. Cake begin.

“I think she knows now,” Pinkie frowned, before licking up one of the cookies to eat herself.

“Magic and weather control just don’t mix,” Mrs. Cake nodded. “I can see why she’d be so upset to refuse a sample.”

Pinkie sighed, lying her head down on the counter. “And I don’t think a party would be the best thing for her, either. She didn’t take too well to that bash I threw for her on her anniversary of meeting Gummy.”

“Maybe you just should let her be, Pinkie.” Mr. Cake offered. “Sometimes, a pony just needs to be alone and to cool off.”

“But there’s gotta be something I could do!” Pinkie insisted. She looked over to the toddlers, rolling a ball back and forth between each other. “Ohh, I know! I cheer up Pound and Pumpkin all the time when they’re grumpy!”

Mr. Cake raised an eyebrow. “You’re not going to make funny faces at Twilight, I hope?”

“Or sing that piggie song?” Mrs. Cake frowned, a confused look on her face.

“Oh, no, no, no, sillies!” Pinkie laughed, and picked up the infants. Both smiled and bubbled with glee at Pinkie. “There’s other things I do for these two! Like tell them funny stories!”

“Er, Pinkie—” Mrs. Cake began.

“That’s what I’ll do! I’ll write Twilight a funny story!” Pinkie announced to the twins. “Twilight loves to read, and it’ll be a funny story to boot!” She stuffed the infants into Mr. Cake’s frantically-waiting hooves. “I just need to find paper and quills and ink!”

The Cakes looked at each other with blank stares. “I don’t think we have much paper left, not after balancing our books yesterday.” Mrs. Cake offered.

“Oh, that’s okay!” Pinkie grinned. “I’ll just go down to the store and get some! Thanks!” Pinkie dashed out the shop, leaving a small cloud of dust in her wake.

Except for the sounds of the infants gurgling in laughter from Pinkie’s antics, the shop was silent.

“Well, Pinkie is just going to write a story, right?” Mr. Cake offered his wife. “What harm could come of that?”

“True, but this is Pinkie, dear.” Mrs. Cake frowned. “Things do tend to go all pretzel-shaped when she’s involved.”

“Spike, I’m back!” Twilight shouted as she entered the library. The raincloud still hung above her head, while a large plain-paper-wrapped parcel floated behind her, suspended by her magic. “Spike?”

She headed to the center of the room, setting the package on the central table. She glanced up towards her bedroom nook, but didn’t see any sign of her assistant.

“Huh, I didn’t think he had plans for today,” Twilight muttered, turning her attention back to the package. “Oh, I do hope this is what I asked the Princess for...”

Her magic made short work of the knotted strings, and soon the package fell open, revealing a ream of parchment along with a smaller slip of paper. Twilight quickly read the note.

My faithful student, Twilight,

Here is the supply of enchanted parchment that you requested for your research. Be careful with its magic, as while it is designed never to fade or crumble away, its properties are not fully explored. I can tell you to be careful what you think while you write—the paper has a way of predicting your inner thoughts, and, well, I shouldn’t have to remind you of that little issue I had with the ambassador from the griffon kingdom last year. I would be very careful with it around Spike, as the effects of his dragon magic on the paper are completely unknown.

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia.

Twilight nodded, placing the note on top of the loose stack. “Shouldn’t be a problem, I’ll just make sure to set these aside for special research purposes and warn Spike to avoid them.”

Her thoughts was interrupted by a knocking at the door. The caller didn’t wait and swung open the door herself.

“Oh, Twilight, dear, Pinkie told me all about wh—” Rarity stopped short as she entered and looked at Twilight. “Oh my! That’s horrible!”

As Rarity came over, Twilight looked up at the dark cloud that still floated over her head. “Oh, hi, Rarity. And it’s not really that bad—”

“No, no, dear! Your mane! It’s positively horrendous!” Rarity used a hoof to prod the frazzled ends of Twilight’s hair. “We must get something done about that!”

“Well, I was about to take a bath, and—”

“Oh, no, no, no! That won’t do! This is a spa emergency!” Rarity cried with panic. “We must get you over there right away!” She got behind Twilight and started shoving at her with her head.

Twilight hesitated. “But, what about, er, this?” she indicated the cloud over her head with her eyebrows.

“Oh, that!” Rarity took a step forwards, and balancing herself on her front hooves, blew on the cloud, quickly dispersing it. “When you’ve been around Rainbow Dash as long as I have, you—”

“—learn not to use magic when she’s trying to control the weather, right right.” Twilight sighed. “The spa sounds like a good idea. It’s been a long day, after all. Let me just put this paper away—”

Rarity shook her head. “Oh, no time for that! You can put that parchment away any time, dear! But we must get you to the spa immediately!”

Twilight paused for a moment. “Well, I guess I could take a bit of time to fix this mess up.”

Rarity nodded to the door. “Don’t worry, Aloe and Lotus will take excellent care of you. We’ll get that mane of yours back to normal in no time.”

The two left the library together, chatting about the upcoming pampering. The front door closed, just as the door to the library’s basement opened.

“Twilight? Did you call?” Spike asked, looking around the main room. “I was sorting out those older books downstairs when—” His voice trailed off when he got no reply.

“Huh, guess it was just the wind,” he shrugged to himself, and took stock of the shelves, scratching his head. “I know Twilight probably had more work for me to do, but I’d thought she’d be back by now. Oh well, more time for me to nap!”

Just as he stepped foot onto the stairs, a knock came at the door. Spike heard Pinkie’s muffled voice call from outside. “Twilight, are you in there?”

Spike stepped lively to open the door, sending a brief draft into the library. “Hey, Pinkie. I don’t know where Twilight is, she’s been gone all morning.”

“Oh, that’s okay!” Pinkie grinned. “Actually, you’d do even better!”

“Me?” Spike pointed at himself.

“Oh, that’s right, you haven’t seen Twilight!” Pinkie rambled. “She’s had a terribly bad morning, and she didn’t even want a free sample from the Cakes! I think that whole raincloud thing had her in a really bad mood. And so I thought to myself how to cheer her up and I realized I could write a story that she might like to read, so she could take her mind off her bad mood. And then I realized that the Cakes didn’t have any paper or quills, and I figured I could borrow some from Twilight, but then you showed up! That’s just perfect!” She caught her breath, and beamed her infectious smile at Spike.

Spike raised an eyebrow. “Perfect for what?”

“Oh, that’s easy! You can write down my story for Twilight!”

“Well, until Twilight gets back, I really don’t have anything else to do,” Spike explained as he scratched at his head. “But help you write a story? I don’t know...”

“Oh, pleeeeease?” Pinkie begged, giving Spike a big smile and batting her eyes.

Spike paused for a moment. “Well, just this once, I guess.”

Pinkie bounced on her hooves. “Great! We’ll go back to Sugarcube Corner so that the story will be a big surprise to her when it's done!”

Spike turned back into the library, quickly gathering some quills and ink from a desk. “Now, where did Twilight put that new order of paper we got?” he asked, looking around the room and quickly setting in on the stack on the central table. “Aha! There we go!”

He gathered up the stack of parchment and with the quills and ink in claw, took off after Pinkie. The letter from Princess Celestia, blown off the stack from the earlier draft of wind, sat forlornly in the center of the library.

Author's Note

*insert happy credit music*

First chapter-ized story; its a bit longer than my previous works and while I've got it all scoped out I'm running into some writing problems in the last few chapters. Breaking it up should help alleviate that.

Please let me know of any corrections or fixes you may find (PM is good or comments just as well). I'm looking for EQD posting once completed, so things may change slightly as I tweak these early chapters.

And for credit where due, the cover image uses the following vector club art:
* Flowerpot by ZutheSkunk
* Twilight by Dr. Fatal Chuck
* Background by Drewdini

The Monster

Pinkie led Spike back to the bakery and to her bedroom on the upper floor, stopping only to collect a plate of Mrs. Cake’s freshly baked cupcakes to enjoy as they wrote out the story.

“Wait, it was a real raincloud?” Spike asked as he set his load of writing materials down.

“Oh, yes! You should have seen it,” Pinkie giggled, setting the baked goods down on her table. “I’m sure Twilight would have found it funny too if she saw herself with it.”

Spike found a comfortable spot on the floor, sitting with his back against Pinkie’s bed, and proceeded to lay out the quills, ink, and paper in front of him. “I’m not so sure about that. You know how Twilight gets freaked out when the littlest thing is out of order.”

“Oh, she’s just a big worry-wart, that’s all,” Pinkie mumbled around a mouth full of cupcake as she began bouncing on her bed. “This story should cheer her right up.”

“What do you want to call the story?” Spike asked, dipping a quill into an inkpot.

“Oh, oh, I know! ‘Twilight’s Big Fun Happy Day’!”

Spike nodded and worked the quill onto the parchment, but shortly stopped. “Huh, that’s strange.”

“What is?”

Spike held up the parchment. “The paper, it seems to be a bit stiff. It’s harder to write on than the normal stuff Twilight orders. I’ll just have to press down more to write on it.” He put the parchment back on the floor and with more purpose, wrote out Pinkie’s title. “There, all set!”

“Great!” Pinkie beamed. “Here we go! ‘One day, Twilight Sparkle found herself in the land of sweets, where everything around her was a delicious, yummy goodie!’”

“Oh, Rarity, I must thank you for this,” Twilight said as the pair emerged from the spa. Twilight’s mane had been restored to its proper style, and like her tail and coat, gave off a glossy sheen in the sunlight. Her face had a newfound glow to it.

“But of course, Twilight dear. You mustn’t let your mane stay like that,” Rarity smiled, her own coat and mane glinting in the sunlight, fresh from pampering.

“I really should use the spa more often, but I just get caught up in my studies.”

Rarity placed a hoof around Twilight’s back. “Trust me, Twilight, nothing beats the stress of working on dresses like a good long mud bath.”

Twilight gasped in faux shock. “Me? Ever get stressed out? That’ll never happen!” She gestured with a hoof towards the cafe in town. “Let’s go grab some lunch, it’ll be my treat.”

“I’ll catch up with you, Twilight. Let me just check on something in the boutique and I will see you there.” Rarity started to trot away. “Oh, and order me a glass of that wonderful berry punch, if you could,” she said over her shoulder.

“Will do! See you soon,” Twilight said, watching Rarity leave. She turned towards the center of town, and took a deep breath. “Oh, I feel so much better. Let’s hope the rest of the day goes as smooth—”

There was a fundamental shift in the universe. At least, that’s how it felt to Twilight. Her eyesight was momentarily blinded by a flash of light and she struggled to regain her balance.

“Whoa, what was that?” Twilight asked, the world still coming into focus for her. Squinting hard, she could distinguish the blue of the sky and the browns and beiges of the buildings, but details were still lost. She called out behind her. “Rarity, did you feel that?”

She got back no response. “Rarity,” she shouted, looking around as vague shapes finally started to resolve in her vision.

Twilight blinked rapidly and shook her head, her eyesight shortly returning to normal. Her mouth suddenly went ajar.

Twilight looked around at the strange environment. “Strange” wasn’t exactly the right word—it still looked like Ponyville, after all, but all the buildings had unnatural, skewed angles, and perhaps were colored in much brighter tones than Twilight recalled. Details on buildings were haphazard. Some aspects like flowerboxes, doorways and windows were in sharp, crisp detail, Other parts like signs and roofs were fuzzy and blurred, her mind wanting to force her eyes to look away. Twilight had to momentary close her eyes and steady herself on the ground to avoid becoming nauseated.

As she looked for a fixed point of reference, she sniffed the air. “Is that—” She padded closer to a nearby building, what she knew was one of the local homes, whiffing at the air all the way. Cautiously she stuck out a hoof against the side of the building and then pulled it away. The bottom of her hoof was covered with a gritty substance pulled off from the wall. She took a deep whiff of the material, and then experimentally licked at it. “Gingerbread?”

Twilight took a few more minutes, closely investigating the other buildings, but came to the same conclusion. They were all made of sweet foodstuffs, not only gingerbread, but pastries, cake, and candy. “Pinkie...” she uttered to nopony in particular.

Her voice echoed between the empty buildings, and quickly realized that nopony else seemed to be around. A few bird calls could be heard in the distance, but otherwise the entire town was silent “Hello? Anypony hear me?”

She walked gingerly around the edible version of Ponyville, its layout otherwise the same as she knew it but in a very strange and creepy manner. She thought she was being watched, and caught glimpses of movement disappearing into doorways and alleys, but when she investigated them, nothing was there.

She carefully chose a few of the buildings each, such as the giant piece of lemon mengenie pie that stood where Rarity’s boutique was, and the town hall constructed out of several muffins stacked on top of each other. Just like their exteriors, the interior details were precise in some places, and blurred out elsewhere. But there was absolutely no signs of life other than herself. Even the flowers, she discovered, were candy-like in nature, and the grass she walked on was made of some marshmallow-like material.

She fell down to her haunches, and talked to herself “Ooookay, Twilight, you’ve been in stranger places before. Let’s think about what could have happened. You were just at the spa with Rarity, there was a flash of light, and now you found yourself here. In a land that, judging by the fact everything’s made of sweets, is straight out of the mind of Pinkie Pie.” She rubbed the sides of her head with her forehooves. “Uggh, this is the last thing I needed today.”

Twilight took a moment to calm down. “Okay, so if this is something out of Pinkie’s thoughts, that should mean—” She glanced over to Sugarcube Corner. Unlike any of the other buildings around it, the bakery was picture-perfect the way Twilight recalled it. “Everything she’d know well is in exacting detail, but then other aspects are just vague—oh no!”

She jumped up in horror at the thought, and quickly got her bearings. She galloped through the empty streets to the library. It was still there, but like other buildings, much of it was an indistinct blur save for the front door and its various windows and balconies. Twilight dared not taste what Pinkie might have thought the library tree might be made of.

Twilight nervously pushed the library door open, one eye closed as she peered inside. It still looked like the library she knew, though again with the same odd angles and areas of visual fuzziness. She trotted over to one of the shelves and magicked one of her spell books at random. The book’s cover seemed normal, its title, Flying Magic for Beginners, read clear as day. She bit her lip, and hesitantly directed the book open to a random page .

It was complete nonsense.

She used her magic to flip through the book, but the only thing it was filled with was garbled phrases like “gak”, “aeiou” and “johnmadden” and other terms she couldn’t decipher. She tried several other books but all were the same way; the covers were as she would expect, but their pages were filled with blurred images, nonsensical symbols, or incomprehensible words.

“Well, these will be a great help.” She frowned, letting the latest useless book drop onto the pile with the others.

A heavy thump reverberated through the library, knocking several books from the shelves. Twilight heard a few vases from upstairs shatter as they hit the floor. “What now?!” she asked aloud, covering her head with her hooves. As the clammer in the library dwindled, she could hear screams coming from outside.

After making sure nothing else was going to fall on her, Twilight carefully made her way to the door and peered out, looking for the source of the noise. She finally saw the first living beings since arriving “here”, wherever that may have been, but the sight scared her even more. Dozens of creatures that bore too close a resemblance to candy, cake, and other desserts, ran en masse away from the center of town. The creatures weren’t very large, the largest maybe coming up to Twilight’s chin, and the smallest were nearly half that. They had impossibly thin and tiny legs and arms, and eerily simple faces. She recalled how unnerved she felt by those preview interstitials at the movie theater, but there, they were just animated characters projected onto a screen. In real life, their appearance frightened Twilight to her core.

Twilight jumped back into the library, out of sight of the creatures, panting heavily. “Okay, Twilight, this is just another part of Pinkie’s imagination, they probably can’t hurt you, right?” she told herself. After taking a few more deep breaths, she peeked out again, getting over the sight of the creatures. There sure were an awful lot of them, continuing to pour out of the town center. “Huh, I wonder what they’re running from,” she commented. “There’s certainly not enough of them to cause that earthqu—”

Another loud ground-shaking thump answered her question. As Twilight watched the candy-like creatures pick up their pace in fleeing the town, she caught sight of a giant leg crashing down on top of one the gingerbread homes in town, launching debris from the impact. In her panic, she first thought it was a dragon, but the leg was far too broad compared to the sleekness she had seen of other dragons. And the fact it was pink...

She gawked as she peered upward from the safety of the library doorframe. The leg continued up onto a beast that was at least twice as high as the town hall. It’s body was just as broad as the town hall, too. Even at this distance, Twilight could see it was covered with scales, along with a ridge of darker scales that ran along its back to it’s thick, long tail that was helping to support its weight as it stood upright. A small part of Twilight’s mind compared the creature to those lizards near Dodge, but this was bipedal and much, much larger than any that she saw. The rest of Twilight’s mind was aghast at the familiar bunching of pink curls atop the creature.

“Run, it’s Pinkzilla!” one of the candy creatures screamed out at Twilight as they raced by. A panicked scream washed through the rushing crowd, spurring them into a faster pace.

Pinkzilla let off a roar that shattered the rock-candy windows in town. Twilight could hear more objects falling behind her in the library but couldn’t care less about them right now—she was more worried how much that roar sounded like the word “lunch”.

She watched as the giant creature reached down with its short arms to one of the buildings it had just stepped on, grabbed a giant clawful of broken gingerbread, and stuffed it in its mouth. It ate the pieces, giant crumbs spewing everywhere, with a pleased look on its face. Twilight was sure it could hear the beast let off a sigh of happiness as it downed the sweet material. It returned to get another serving for itself.

Twilight had seen enough, and dashed out of the library, joining with the last remnants of the candy creatures as they fled town. She fell into pace with a giant animated muffin, jogging as fast as it’s comically-short legs could while taking frightened looks at the creature behind it.

“What’s going on? What’s happening?” Twilight blurted out as she caught her breath.

“It’s Pinkzilla!” the being responded in a somewhat high-pitched voice. “It’s lunchtime, and it’s hungry!”

“But where did you all come from? Where did it come from?!”

The muffin took a moment to look at her before it continued to barrel forward. “We saw you walking around town, and wanted to warn you, but Pinkzilla was due to arrive any moment!”

Twilight balked. “You mean, this happens regularly?”

“Every day about noon,” the muffin wheezed out between breaths. “Now, if you’d excuse me, we need to get out of town and fast!” It surged ahead, losing itself in the crowd.

By now, Twilight and the mass of candy beings had crossed the bridge leading out of town; she barely took notice of the chocolate-looking river it spanned. Most of the candy beings dispersed into the trees and other hiding places from there. Panting heavily, Twilight ducked behind a rock to catch a few breaths and try to piece together the last few minutes. She noticed that the ground thumping had stopped, and peered around the corner of the rock.

Smack in the middle of town, Pinkzilla had fallen to its haunches and was stuffing claw after claw of ruined buildings into her mouth, crumbs spraying everywhere. It was clearly content, its eyes closed and grinning madly as it dined on the town. Its tail lazily swayed back and forth, knocking even more buildings into ruin. Now that she had a moment to look at the creature, Twilight thought she saw the faint traces of the balloons of Pinkie’s cutie mark marked on the scales of near its legs.

Twilight shook her head. “Of course Pinkie Pie would imagine herself like that,” she uttered aloud. “A giant, sweets-devouring creature.” She sighed, and started to pace behind the rock, muttering to herself. “So somehow I’ve been transported to a world shaped by Pinkie’s imagination. I know Princess Luna can enter dreams, but I don’t know anypony but her that has that ability, and this doesn’t feel like a dream.” She poked at her barrel to assure she wasn’t sleeping.

Twilight ignored the muted thumps that shook the ground and the roars of content from the distance. “Hmm, I remember a book of spells about creating lands to explore from one’s thoughts, but that required a lot of magical components. That’s certainly not it, but wasn’t there a unicorn with that ability?” She let out a small grunt of annoyance. “Ugh, if I could only get to my books, I’d know exactly how to get out of this crazy Pinkie dream!”

She stopped, realizing that the world had gone deathly quiet, except for a deep, recurring sound like a rush of wind. Something tingled her mind, like somepony was close by.

“Ummm,” she whispered, looking up at a giant blue-irised eye staring down at her over the rock.

Pinkzilla tilted its head and roared. Somewhere in the back of Twilight’s mind, a tiny voice noted how much the roar sounded like a question, asking “Licorice?”.

“AAAGHH!” Twilight galloped off, trying to lose the creature in the forest.

She heard wood splinter behind her, the faint screams of the candy creatures as they fled their hiding places, and the caws of birds as they scattered into the sky, but she didn’t turn to look. The ground shook behind her hooves as she knew her predator was right on her tail.

The forest thinned out, revealing a large crack in the ground. Twilight immediately recognized it as Ghastly Gorge. Her mind yelled out that there’s no physical way it should have been this close to Ponyville, but Twilight ignored the voice—there would be places to hide down there, that’s all that mattered right now. She stopped at the edge of the gorge to orient herself, then teleported herself to the gorge floor and started wildly looking around for shelter. Near to where she appeared, there was a set of worn boulders, loose debris from the rock wall, which formed a small natural cubbyhole, almost perfectly pony-sized. Twilight squeezed into the space without question. From the shadow of the rocks around her, Twilight took a careful peak up towards the top of gorge.

Pinkzilla had followed her to the crack, but it looked befuddled, scratching its head while swinging it back and forth trying to find its prey. It bent down and tried to push its short arm into the gorge, but the girth of its body would not let it get more than halfway to the gorge’s floor, its claw wildly grasping at empty air. After a few moments, the creature pulled up and started to walk along the edge of the gorge, peering into the crack and sniffing the air. Twilight ducked back under her impromptu cover as Pinkzilla passed near her. Each step the giant took caused a small rain of pebbled to fall onto the rock shelter, and Twilight began to question how safe this shelter really was.

“Oh, Celestia,” Twilight whispered, waiting for the right time to make her break. “Somepony help me!”

Author's Note

I'm so glad I was able to serialize this so easy. Makes for individual chapter editing much easier. As always, please please provide any feedback or fixes or the like in pm or comments.

I'm not necessarily expecting a chapter per day but expect that this work will end up at about 7 -8 chapters long and anticipate completion within 2 weeks. (most of it is written, it's the finishing touches to do on each subsequent chapter that I care to make good on).

Why yes, I do live in the Seattle area and know of the retro video game store here. Why do you ask?

The Heroine

“Hey, Pinkie! Spike!” Rainbow Dash called out as she hovered near Pinkie’s open window.

“Oh, hi, Rainbow!” Pinkie waved, while Spike continued to write out the last few lines Pinkie had dictated to him.

“Whatcha doing there with Spike?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh, he’s helping me to write a story for Twilight, because Twilight had a really bad morning, and I thought this might cheer her up!”

Rainbow ran her hoof down the back of her head, trying to look off in the distance. “Yeah, I, uh, heard about that.”

“Hey, I know!” Pinkie trotted to the window. “You want to help? The more the merrier, I always say!”

“Er, I don’t know—” Rainbow started, but was interrupted as Pinkie dragged her inside.

“Oh, here, maybe you’ll want to help after you see what we’ve already written!” Pinkie dropped Rainbow inside, and pointed to the small stack of parchment that Spike had already written.

Rainbow rolled her eyes, and then plopped herself next to the stack, pulling off the first page to read. “Fine, let’s see here—” It only took a moment for her to stop. “Geez, you guys! This is boring! Where’s the action? The adventure? Pinkie pigging out on candy isn’t much fun to read,” Rainbow criticized.

“I dunno,” Spike offered, placing the latest sheet onto the pile. “I think this is pretty fun so far.”

Pinkie smiled, giving a wink to Spike. “You know, you could always add some of that action and adventure to this story.”

Rainbow’s face lit up. “You’re right! I always wanted to try to write about Daring Do! Let me see what I can do to help!”

“That’s the spirit, Dashie!”

Rainbow sat up straight, and coughed to clear her throat. “Okay, here we go. ‘Daring Do had just stolen the Lunar Grail right out from the talons of the Grimacing Griffons. With the full force of the Griffons on her tail, Daring made to return the Grail to its rightful owner—herself.”

Pinkzilla had made a circuit of the gorge, still sniffing the air and seeking its prey. Each step brought more pebbles tumbling down the sides of walls of Ghastly Gorge. Twilight remained in the shelter of the rocks, more for protection from the potential rockslides than to hide from Pinkzilla.

A loud clamor echoed into the gorge; Twilight guessed it might have been a tree falling over from the cracking sound, but couldn’t tell for sure. But more importantly, it caused the massive pink creature to flick its head towards the noise, and it started to waddle away.

Twilight took immediate advantage of the situation, fleeing her makeshift shelter and galloping down the length of the gorge in the opposite direction.

There was another crashing noise from above, drifting into the walls of the gorge. It came uncomfortably closer than the last disturbance, and Twilight could tell from the rumbling under her hooves that Pinkzilla was still nearby. She feared teleporting herself out of the gorge, not knowing what was making the sound or where Pinkzilla was heading towards.

A shadow crossed over the gorge’s floor, followed by a heavy ground-rattling thump. Twilight skittered to a stop, trying to cover her head as a fresh shower of pebbles and smaller stones fell off the gorge’s walls. She looked up to catch the end of the thick pink tail disappear out of sight, and guessed that Pinkzilla must have just jumped over the gorge. But as she watched, the rock face she was against started to collapse, and several large boulders began to fall directly towards her.

Twilight was stunned in terror, and couldn’t move or think. “HELP!” she shouted, believing the cry would go on deaf ears.

“Don’t worry! Here I come!” a voice from the distance shouted.

Twilight turned down to look in the direction of the voice, but only had a moment to see a blurred figure rush in and grab her before a large rock crashed down on the spot where she had been standing, knocking the wind out of her.

Twilight was agape, looking back at the point of impact, but soon realized she was being carried by somepony, rising out of the gorge. She turned to look at her rescuer.

“Daring Do?!” Twilight shouted in a panic. The pith helmet was unmistakable, as well as the olive-colored shirt.

“Hey, don’t squirm!” the pegasus complained, closing her hoof around Twilight’s barrel to maintain her grip. Daring readjusted the loop of rope around her other forehoof as they swung out of the gorge. “I don’t think you want us to fall now.”

“But— but—” Twilight stammered.

They started to reach the apex of the rope’s impossibly long swing, the top of the gorge appearing in view. Daring eyed the gap, and let go of the rope at the right time to drop her and Twilight safely onto the grass along the edge of the cliff.

“And another damsel in distress saved by Daring Do!” Daring proudly exclaimed as she released Twilight, then took off her hat and bowed to her.

“But— but—” Twilight continued to struggle with the situation.

“Is that all you can say?” Daring asked, her eyebrow raised. She looked across the gorge, where Pinkzilla’s unmistakable mass of curls could be seen above the tree level, anxiously looking for something among the forest there. “That lure’s going to keep it busy for awhile, but we’re going to have more trouble on our hooves soon if we don’t get moving.”

Twilight finally caught her breath. “You’re just a fictional character! You can’t exist!”

“A character? I’m Daring Do, in the flesh!” The adventurer spotted something down within the gorge, and peddled backwards. “Hurry! It’s the G.G.!”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “The Grimacing Griffons? Don’t tell me they’re here too?” she asked exasperatedly. She stepped over to try to peek over the edge, but was yanked back by a tug on her tail.

“Come on, you can gawk at them later. They’re after us!” Daring shouted, expertly tossing Twilight up into the air from her tail and catching the surprised unicorn on her back. The mare then broke into a gallop into the forest.

Twilight was caught momentarily off-guard by the move, and hurried to grab at the edges of Daring’s shirt to hold her balance.

“What’s you’re name, miss?” Daring asked, expertly dodging trees and bushes that appeared in her path.

“Uh, Twilight. Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight responded, still in a daze, trying to get any sense of sanity or bearing.

“Nice to meet you, Twilight. I’d like to talk more, but we need to get away from the Griffons first. Just hang on tight!” Daring broke into a faster pace after finding an older path that cut through the forest in more-or-less a straight line.

Twilight tried to clear her head. Daring Do. She was riding on Daring Do, a fictional character, which she knew was an impossibility. Just like the candy town, or its strange citizens, or Pinkzilla. But there was no connection between them whatsoever, unless...

“Oh, no. Now I’m in Rainbow Dash’s imagination!” she moaned aloud.

“Who’s this Rainbow Dash?” Daring asked, her breath short as she continued her pace.

“It’s a long story,” Twilight grumbled.

Twilight took time to look at the forest as it raced by. She had read all of the Daring Do books. But ever since she had introduced the series to Rainbow Dash, her friend had become fascinated by its world, and had a seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of Daring’s adventures, putting Twilight’s own appreciation of the series to shame. But even so, the forest didn’t seem like anything out of the books. The Grimacing Griffons, on the other hoof, were a common antagonist in the series. A very bad idea formed in Twilight’s mind.

“Uh, Daring, if I may call you that, why are you being chased?”

Daring responded while dodging the occasional tree. “Oh, the Griffons are upset that I stole the jewel-encrusted Lunar Grail from them. It’s supposed to give anypony that drinks from it eternal youth.”

Twilight was sure that none of the Daring Do books to date had mention of the Lunar Grail. She rationalized that Rainbow must be fantasizing her own story, something that she took a bit of pride in but helped little in the current situation.

A large crash broke Twilight out of her thoughts. She saw movement behind them, slowly catching up to them, and a dark shadow started to consume the forest behind them.

“Do you know how many Griffons are chasing you?”

Daring didn’t break stride but her voice faltered. “Er, maybe, all of them?” she replied sheepishly.

Twilight grimly recalled that the Griffons forces in the books numbered in the thousands. “Keep your pace, I’m going to help you out,” she ordered Daring. She turned around on Daring’s back, grabbing at her tail with one hoof while retaining her grip on Daring’s shirt. Taking a deep breath, she cast a levitation spell on herself. Immediately, with her weight negated by her magic, she flew off Daring’s back, but had a firm grasp of Daring’s tail. With their pace, Twilight fluttered behind the pegasus like a flag in a strong wind.

“Oh, hey, that’s tons better!” Daring commented, already her pace quickening. “Why didn’t you do that before?”

“Sorry, I was a bit lost in my thoughts,” Twilight offered meekly as she adjusted her grip. She looked back, assured that they were at least starting to outpace the dark shadow behind them.

“So, Twilight, what’s a nice young mare doing out here?” Daring asked behind heavy breaths.

“I really really don’t know,” Twilight explained. “I was leaving Ponyville’s spa one minute, and next I found myself in a land full of candy. And then it was attacked by a giant creature named Pinkzilla. And then you saved me from that falling rock, and then...” She paused, laughing a bit at herself. “I know, that must sound really ridiculous.”

“I know my adventures are amazing but you’ve gotta be kidding me! Are you sure you didn’t hit your head on something?”

“I’m pretty sure. This all feels real to me, but—” Twilight caught something moving in on them from the side. “Uh, Daring, I hate to point this out, but I think they’re trying to flank us!” She pointed to their right with a hoof.

Daring snapped a look back at Twilight and then towards where her hoof was pointing. Another large shadow was darkening the forest, closing in on them fast. “No worries, we’re right about where we need to be,” she said with confidence.

Twilight fretted, assuring her grip on Daring’s tail a bit more. “Where’s that?”

“I know a ruined town just ahead, we’ll be able to hide there. Hold on tight!”

The forest suddenly gave way to open air, and the path beneath them disappeared over a cliff face. The two started to free fall. Twilight couldn’t help to scream. “Daring!”

Daring didn’t say a word, continuing to fall, right into the center of a town. Twilight caught glimpses of stone-work buildings rushing up to meet them.

Twilight looked back, attracted by a loud cacophony of voices came from above them. Numerous streams of griffons, donned in grey shirt uniforms and helmets, exploded out of forest on the cliff. Dozens of small groups flew in formation, spreading out to search for their prey. One pointed down towards the falling ponies and alerted the others in a harsh, guttural voice. The rest of the forces immediately took off in the same dive, like a swarm of bees to honey.

“They’re here!” Twilight screamed again.

“Lady, you worry too much,” Daring said excitedly. “Just a bit more...”

Daring had actually tucked her hooves in, speeding their descent. Twilight slammed her eyes closed, the ground closing dangerously fast.

The sound of the air whooshing around them changed. Twilight knew they should have hit the ground already but yet they were still somehow speeding through the air. She opened one eye to find ruined buildings racing alongside them. She looked up to see that Daring had unfurled her wings and was using the momentum she had built up to soar through the desolate town. The lead griffons had to stop short out of their power dive to avoid crashing into the ground and reorient themselves, but many others were already on Daring’s tail into the town.

“See, I told you, everything’s fine,” Daring offered casually.

“Er, we still are being chased by the Griffons,” Twilight said, pointing back behind them.

Daring snorted “Hey, I deal one problem at a time. I got us out of that forest, right?”

Twilight was able to take a look at the town they were in as the buildings zipped by. She wasn’t aware of any such architecture like these stonework buildings in Equestria, but recalled that some of Daring’s published adventures took places in such towns left desolate by the Grimacing Griffons. Even at the speed Daring flew them through town, Twilight could see most of the buildings were in a state of disrepair, some even having collapsed in on themselves.

Motion from behind them caught Twilight’s attention. “They’re gaining on us!” she shouted to the mare. She watched as further griffons joined the ones in pursuit. Most were flying but a few were even gaining speed as they galloped along the ground.

“We need a distraction!” Daring shouted. Her eyes shot around the street in front of them. “There! That clock tower! Knock it down!”

Twilight looked ahead. A dilapidated tower stood to one side of the street, its walls pot-marked with broken stonework. Wooden scaffolding was erected by its side, reaching to where one whole section of wall was missing, replaced with wooden beams.

“Got it! But I’m going to have to give up my levitation spell—”

“No worries, I gotcha!” Daring shot a glance back to their pursuers. “On the count of three...”

Twilight instantly recalled one of her powerful force projection spells, ready to unleash it at the tower.

“THREE!” Daring yelled, pulling up to a vertical climb.

“Agggghhh!” Twilight screamed, more surprised by the suddenness of Daring’s command than the direction change. It took her a moment to recover but looked back down to find her target. She gave no heed to the fact that several of the griffons were following them into the power climb. “Here goes!”

Twilight let her levitation spell go, feeling her weight start pulling down on Daring’s tail. Taking a moment to aim, she channeled her magic into her spell. A lavender beam shot from the tip of her horn, striking the wooden beams at the clock tower dead center. “Got it!” she yelled to Daring, as the creaks of wood splintering started to come from the tower.

“Great! Now let go!”

“WHAT?!” Twilight shouted. She grabbed harder at the tail.

Daring looked back at her, a confident smile on her face. “Trust me, just let go!”

A flash of memory came to Twilight—dangling over a cliff-face in the Everfree Forest, Applejack saying the same thing to her. With a moment’s trepidation and her eyes shut, Twilight let off her precious grip of Daring’s tail.

The vertical momentum kept Twilight moving for a few seconds, but soon she hit her apex as gravity started to drag her down. She peeked out of a closed eye, watching the griffon forces flying straight at her. “Uh, Daring! HELP!” she cried.

“Don’t worry, I’m coming!” Daring had shot off ahead once Twilight’s weight was gone, gaining a great deal more height. Suddenly, she pulled into a loop, coming out of it right into Twilight’s downward fall and angling towards the ground, directly towards the ruined clock tower. She bit down on Twilight’s tail as the mare passed her in free-fall, pulling her out of the immediate path of the rushing griffon forces.

Twilight winced at the pain at her tailbase, but didn’t care, Daring had caught her, and had used her added weight to accelerate her descent. Twilight, being pulled backwards, saw the Griffons turned sharply to follow them like a horde of locusts. She glanced ahead to the tilting clock tower. Pieces of stone and wood rained from its upper levels as it shifted away from the base of the structure.

“Okay, this is going to be tight, Twilight. Hang on!” Daring said through her clenched teeth. She picked up speed in the dive, aiming at a spot on the road where the clock tower was about to fall.

Twilight’s mind was racing, making mental calculations on their situation. “We’re not going to make it!”

“I’m Daring Do, of course we’re going to make it!” the adventurer assured her.

The tower has tipped passed its center of gravity, and was rapidly falling to the ground. Daring, still gripping Twilight’s tail by her teeth, shoot forward, just under the falling ruin. Twilight felt a few small pieces of debris fall on them as they passed under it. The ground just missed grazing Twilight’s cheek.

With a loud crash, the clock tower collapsed into the street, sending a large dust cloud into the air. The griffons that had been hot on their tail skittered to a mid-air stop, and were soon lost within the dust.

“We did it!” Twilight cheered as they flew off.

“It won’t stop them for long though,” Daring commented. “We need to hide, and now!”

Twilight scanned the buildings ahead, and her eyes caught a one two-story building, still mostly standing, sandwiched between the ruins of its two neighbors. She thought it might have been a restaurant at one time, but was more interested in that its doors and windows were nearly all boarded up, which would provide them the cover they need. “There!”

“Got it, hang on!” Daring altered her course, and moments later had neared the building’s unbarricaded front door. She let go of Twilight’s tail a few feet off the ground.

Twilight winced in pain as she landed on her side but got to her hooves quickly. She was already focusing her magic on the door, prodding the worn rusty latch to move. Moments later the door flew open. “There, let’s go!”

The two raced in, slammed the door behind them, and then grabbed at any pieces of furniture nearby to barricade it.

The muffled sounds of gruff orders and packs of griffons flying around can from beyond the door. Twilight took a peek through a slit on the window to see the Griffons darting past their hiding spot, spreading out into small teams to search among the ruins of the town.

Daring fell to the ground, panting and wiping her brow with a hoof. “Phew, we made it!”

Twilight felt her own breath to be short, but found herself enjoying it. “So these are what your adventures are like all the time?”

“You got it, Twilight!”

Author's Note

A challenger has arrived!

Again, comments and suggestions are highly appreciated via comments or PM.

The Damsel

“Oh, hi, everypony,” Fluttershy said, poking her head from the stairs into Pinkie’s bedroom. “Mrs. Cake said you were up here.”

“Fluttershy! You’re just in time!” Pinkie waved Fluttershy over. “We’re writing a story for Twilight!”

A confused look crossed Fluttershy’s face. “A story? Why?”

Rainbow blushed a bit after providing another part of her story to Spike. “Weeeell, she had a bit of a problem this morning while I was moving clouds around, and let’s just say she’s in a bad mood. Pinkie thought a story might cheer her up.”

Fluttershy gasped. “Oh, you mean no one told her about trying to use magic around Dashie when she’s controlling the weather? Poor Twilight!” She started looking through the pages filled with Spike’s writing. “What can I do to help?”

“Why don’t you narrate some of the story?” Pinkie suggested, popping another cupcake into her mouth. “Spike’s writing everything down, so you can just go ahead and add whatever you want.”

Fluttershy pawed at the floor, and looked away hiding her face in her mane. “I don’t know, I don’t think I’m a very good storyteller.”

“Nonsense, ‘Shy,” Rainbow came over to give her a reassuring hoof across her back. “You had some of the best stories back at flight camp.”

“Well, true, but...”

Pinkie came next to Fluttershy, opposite Rainbow Dash. “Come on, it’ll be fun!” She gave Fluttershy a wide grin.

Fluttershy sighed a bit, looking down to the floor. “Well, if you say so,” she replied softly. She coughed to clear her throat.

“Whenever you’re ready, Fluttershy,” Spike offered, his quill at the ready.

“Um, let’s see.” Fluttershy’s brow wrinkled as she concentrated on an idea. “Okay, here we go...’Flutterina, the Magical Tea Maiden, couldn’t wait for today. She was going to have her largest tea party ever with all the creatures of the kingdom, and she made sure her endless kettle of tea and basket of biscuits were ready to go.’”

“Argh,” Rainbow complained, slapping her hoof against her head. “Again with the tea parties!”

“Now, Dashie, let Fluttershy tell her story the way she wants it,” Pinkie said. “Besides, maybe it will be a big fun tea party with lots of games and sweets!”

“Pinkie, this is Fluttershy, we know exactly how her tea parties are like!”

Twilight Sparkle and Daring Do were still heaving, recovering their breath from being chased by the Grimacing Griffons. Daring got to her hooves and peered out through a slit between two boards covering a window. “No sign of the Griffons yet.”

Content that Daring was watching out for trouble, Twilight turned to look into the building, and then did a face hoof. “Oh, Fluttershy,” she moaned under her breath.

“Flutter-who?” Daring asked, turning to Twilight. She then saw what had confused Twilight. “Ah, wild animals!”

The main room looked like a tavern out of Dodge, with a large common room and a balcony that surrounded it on the second floor. There may have been more adornment before, but now the room was stripped of anything of potential value, leaving a mish-mash of tables and chairs in the center. Among the tables of the open area were numerous creatures, mice, squirrels, birds, ferrets, and even a bear, all sitting down enjoying tea.

“I’ll protect you, ma’am!” Daring said, stepping in front of Twilight, and leaning down into a snarl as she eyed the creatures.

“Daring, these aren’t wild animals!” Twilight scolded her. “They’re harmless woodland critters! And... they’re... having... tea.” Twilight couldn’t believe she just said that, and let out a low grunt.

“Twilight, I’ve been in enough jungles to know danger when I see it, and these creatures are dangerous!”

Twilight huffed. “Look,” she said, using her telekinesis to grab at a squirrel seated at a nearby table, “does this look dangerous to you?” The squirrel wriggled a bit at Twilight’s magical grasp.

“Lady, I’ve seen trouble,” Daring retorted, narrowly staring at the creature, eye-to-eye. “This guy reeks of it.”

“It’s a squirrel!” Twilight shouted. “A cute, cuddly little squirrel!”

Daring prodded at the creature in mid-air. The squirrel responded by giving her hoof a small nip, causing her to back off “Ow! Look, I told you it was dangerous.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. She levitated the squirrel back to its table, carefully setting it down. “Look, I trusted you, you trust me. They aren’t going to harm us unless you want them to, okay?”

Daring scrunched her face for a moment. “All right, but but they still smell like trouble to me.”

Twilight sighed. “You stay here and watch for the griffons. I’ll go see if there’s an exit out back.”

“Right, gotcha,” Daring said, already staring through a slit between the boarded-up window.

Twilight stepped carefully between the tables as to not disturb the animals. Their chirps and squeaks as they drank tea, by whatever means they could, made it sound like they were all in deep conversation with each other. Twilight, unfortunately, couldn’t understand a single word.

As she neared the back door of the main room, the soft tones of a quiet harp suddenly echoed in the building. Despite being lit from the beams of sunlight that broke through the boarded windows, the room appeared to dim, save for a single bright light near a doorframe on the second floor.

The animals went completely silent, turning simultaneously as one to the lit door.

The door creaked open and out stepped Fluttershy.

Well, it looked like Fluttershy, at least to Twilight. The pink mane and yellow coat were unmistakable, but she was dressed head to hoof in a billowing white dress with lace fringes. She wore a headband of bright flowers and lace around her head, while several more flowers were placed about her mane and tail in a decorative fashion. There was something else on her back, but from this distance and in the darkened building, Twilight couldn’t tell what it was. She was carrying a serving tray with a tea set on in it.

“I’m heee-eeeeere!” she sang. The animals began to make appreciative noises. The harp music swelled in volume.

“Wow, who’s that?” Daring had abandoned her post and stood near the main area of the floor, enraptured by the sight. She had taken off her hat and held it close to her, staring at Fluttershy. Her eyes were wide open, glistening at the newcomer.

Twilight facehooved again. “Well, I’d say that was Fluttershy, but given what I’ve seen so far, I really have no clue.”

“Here I come to serve you tea, my animal friends!” Fluttershy’s voice continued in a sing-song manner. She walked over to a break in the railing on the balcony. Two birds brought a pair of strings to the device on Fluttershy’s back, hooking the ends into place.

“Oh Celestia,” Twilight muttered, her face still buried in her hoof.

The strings pulled taut—likely pulled through a set of pulleys by a couple of animals elsewhere, Twilight rationalized—and Fluttershy was gently pulled off the balcony, suspended in midair. Somehow, the light pattern shifted to fall onto her as she floated there. “My endless tea kettle will quench your thirst with its wonderful flavors,” she continued to entone in song. A wild glissando came from the harp music, punctuating Flutterina’s song.

Twilight, wandering back towards the entrance of the building, could now see the device clearly, giving Fluttershy a pair of fake, sparkling wings, likely made from painted wood. Her real wings were tucked tightly to her body underneath them.

The animals cheered some more, raising their cups to the best each could.

“Wow, she’s beautiful,” Daring commented, a slight waver in her voice.

Twilight started to wonder if less surreal outside with the Griffons on the hunt.

“I am Flutterina, the Magical Tea Maiden, here to serve you your tea, my friends! Hold your cups high as I descend!” Fluttershy sang lightly, the harp music melodizing along with her. On cue, she was lowered down to the table tops, spinning gently and carefully holding her tea tray steady. As she neared a table, she used her mouth to lift the tea kettle and carefully pour into the waiting cups, spilling not a single drop. Twilight saw that the kettle, along with other parts of her tea set, were linked through a loose metal chain around Fluttershy’s neck.

“Yeah, this explains a lot,” Twilight commented under her breath.

“Hey, Twilight, if you know this pony, you’ve got to introduce me to her!” Daring prodded Twilight in her side. The adventurer kept on watching as Flutterina was carefully positioned by whomever was manipulating the rope, allowing her to visit each table to serve tea.

Soon enough, Flutterina had made it to the front of the room, where Twilight and Daring were watching. “Oh,” she said, as if noticing the ponies for the first time. “You’re not animals...”

“No, we aren’t,” Twilight tersely replied.

“Oh, um, well, would you like some tea? I’ve also got some light biscuits—”

Daring barged ahead, pushing Twilight aside. “Oh, I’d love some, ma’am,” she said, offering a bow to Flutterina. “My name is Dr. Daring Do, Professor of Archeology Studies at Cloudsdale University and Adventurer Extraordinaire!”

Twilight balked. “Wait, that’s not in the boo—” She was silenced by Daring’s hoof to her mouth.

“You’ll have to excuse my friend, she’s a little excited,” Daring rolled her head back, her grey mane flipping around.

Flutterina blushed. “Oooh,” she quietly uttered, then realized something. “Oh, here, have a seat, I’ll have you tea in a moment!” Without saying a word, she was pulled away, and over to a nearby table, where the bear and a few ferrets sat. She nodded to direct the two to the empty seats.

“Why, thank you, ma’am,” Daring took another bow and made to the offered spot. “You coming, Twilight?”

“Ugh, my stomach’s too upset for tea,” Twilight exaggerated. “I’ll, uh, just keep an eye out for the Griffons, if you don’t mind.”

Twilight prodded herself to the front windows to keep watch. She looked back every so often to see what was happening with Daring and Flutterina. The adventurer had taken a cup of tea from the Maiden and was excitedly describing her adventures to her, waving her hooves about to punctuate the stories.

“...And then there was this one time where that evil Ahuizotl stole the Sapphire Statue from me, but I was able to get it back, even with a sprained wing, a broken hoof, and having to wear an eyepatch!”

“Oh, my,” Flutterina uttered, entranced by Daring’s tale.

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes, and went back to looking through the window slits. The Grimacing Griffons had been patrolling the town, passing by in small groups, but took little interest in looking in any of the structures. Twilight recalled they weren’t written as the most intelligent of Daring’s foes, just the most dangerous.

A muted thump echoed through the building, and some dust from the rafters fell into the sunlight beams. The animals skittered about, taking comfort in small packs. The harp music, which had been plucking soft notes for the last several minutes, suddenly came to a stop.

Daring was on her hooves instantaneously. “What was that?” she called out as she trotted to the window alongside Twilight.

Twilight had been watching the Griffons, and as soon as the distant noise waned, the creatures had turned en masse towards the other side of town, towards that cliff face they had fallen from before.

“Oh, dear,” Twilight mumbled. “This can’t be good.”

There was another ground-shaking noise, this one much much closer. A few of the tea cups rattled off the tables and shattered to the ground. Flutterina had gotten twisted around in her prop ropes, and was struggling to stop her lazy spinning. The animals below her had quieted down, their various ears perked to the new sounds.

Twilight eyed the Griffons as they continued to pour towards the noise. “Hang on a second, I have a bad feeling about this.” She pushed away the furniture they had stacked aside, and then magicked the door open a crack to peek out. Though she was in plain sight of the Griffons, they gave her no heed, called to the singular source at the far end of the town.

Assured that she wasn’t going to get captured, Twilight took a step out, enough to be able to see past the buildings that blocked her view of the street. One look was all it took before she darted back inside and slammed the door behind her, panicked.

“Oh, Celestia, Pinkzilla’s here!”

“Pink-who?” Daring asked, looking to take her own glance outside. “You mean that giant monster from before?” She waved a hoof dismissively as she started to step outside. ”Pshaw! She’s probably no match for the great Daring Do!”

Twilight bit down on Daring’s tail and yanked her back. “No, trust me, you can’t. There’s no time to explain!” Twilight scanned the room, spotting the back doors. “Fluttershy—I mean, Flutterina, do you have a wagon or something?’

Flutterina was still spinning slowly, lacking any sort of control on her motions. “Uh, I think there’s a cart for deliveries—”

“Good enough! Everypony, get to that cart!” Twilight commanded, pointing her hoof to the back door.

The room broke into a panic, as the building shook from further thumps. The animals made a dash for the door, with some of the smaller creatures having latched onto the backsides of the larger ones.

Flutterina struggled to get free of the ropes in a futile manner. “Uh, a little help... please?”

Daring dashed to the top of the closest table and jumped onto Flutterina’s back, extracting a small knife with her mouth from her kit. “Hold on, ma’am, I’ll get you down.” The mare went to work on the prop ropes.

Twilight took a careful look outside. The giant Pinkzilla had reached the spot of the ruined clock tower, and at the rate it was moving, would be atop them in a few more steps. The Griffons swarmed around it, but it simply swiped the relatively tiny creatures aside, laughing deeply.

“Gotcha!” Daring announced. Twilight turned to see Daring, slowly beating her wings as she lowered Flutterina in her hooves to the floor. “Twilight, let’s go!”

“Right after you, Daring,” Twilight said as she raced behind them towards the back door.

The door let to a short hall with other passages leading off it, but all the animals had left by the door at the far end of the hall that opened to the outside. As Flutterina had said, there was an open wooden cart, large enough to carry them all, sitting there.

A loud shattering noise rattled the building just as Twilight was exiting it. “Daring, you’re going to have to pull. Everypony else, get on!”

The animals didn’t have to be told twice, and quickly worked together to get themselves onto the wagon. Daring was already pulling the harness around herself, tightening the strap around her barrel.

Flutterina was trying to jump to catch the edge of the cart, her tea set jingling with each pitiful attempt. The fake wooden wings bounced uselessly against her sides. “Uh, help, please?” she called out weakly.

Twilight sighed, and quickly stepped in to push Flutterina up by the flank with her head to the cart edge. “Just hurry up, we don’t have much time!” The bear reached down to help lift Flutterina into the cart.

Another earth-shaking thump was enough to send the ruins of one of the nearby buildings collapse in on itself.

Daring was looking over her shoulder, eying the bright pink thing that could be seen over the tops of the buildings. “Hurry, Twilight, it’s right on top of us!”

Assured that Flutterina had finally struggled her way into the cart, Twilight lept on herself. “Everypony on? Then let’s go, Daring!” she ordered.

Daring had already broke into a gallop before Twilight could finish her sentence, jostling the ponies and other creatures as the cart creaked to life. Twilight was slammed into the back of the cart, temporarily losing her breath, as Daring took the cart onto a large street that led directly out of town into the grasslands beyond.

A crash came from too close nearby. Twilight, Flutterina, and the animals looked back to find the building they were just in now occupied by a giant pink foot. Shards of wood stuck out at haphazard angles from it.

Flutterina gasped in a whisper. “My tea room!”

Twilight felt herself hyperventilating a bit, and took a few slower breaths while trying to hold herself steady in the cart. “That was way too close.” She turned to look at Flutterina, who was agast and unblinking at the sight. “Flutterina? Flutterina?” Twilight waved a hoof in front of Flutterina’s face, but got no response. She turned towards the animals that had gathered around them. “Could you watch her?” The creatures gave various chirps and squeaks. They surrounded their maiden and patted at her sides with their paws and wings.

Twilight moved towards the front of the cart. “Daring, do you have any idea where we’re going?”

Daring kept her eyes on the horizon. “No clue. Isn’t this great?” Twilight could hear a bit of squeal in that response.

“Yes, this is just great. We’ve got a cart of woodland critters and a scared-stiff tea maiden back here, and thousands of angry Griffons and a giant pink—whatever that is, chasing us. I’d definitely rank this high on my ‘awesome’ scale.” Twilight snorted.

“Yeah, I wish all my days could be like this!”

A loud roar approached from behind them. Twilight glanced back to see Pinkazilla taking large, lumbering steps, each one bringing the monster closer to the cart. An indistinct cloud of griffons swarmed just behind the giant creature, maintaining the same pace. “Can you go any faster?” she called ahead to Daring.

“Hey, I’m the one pulling the loaded cart here! I’m at top speed! Can’t you do that levitation trick again?”

Twilight looked back at the load they were carrying. “No, there’s far too much weight for me!”

Flutterina had finally broken out of her spell, and pointed with a hoof to the distance. “What’s that?” Perhaps a half-mile away, a small trail of smoke could be seen on a horizon.

“It looks like a train...” Twilight said, squinting into the light, then suddenly realization hit. “A train! It’ll easily outpace Pinkzilla!”

“Perfect!” Daring changed course, bee-lining it for the trail of smoke. Twilight, Flutterina, and the animals held on as they were sloshed about the cart.

“Watch it!” Twilight shouted, using her telekinesis to grab at a ferret that was nearly knocked free.

“Sorry,” Daring apologized. “Just keep everypony safe back there, I got this!”

Within minutes, Daring had closed the gap between them and the train. Twilight could make out the details of the train, and was surprised that it resembled the ice-cream colored cars of the Express between Ponyville and Canterlot, but at this point, she didn’t even try to rationalize why that was the case. “Daring, there’s a flatbed car coming up!” she shouted. “We can get everypony safely on there!”

“Right, everypony get ready to jump,” Daring ordered through her heavy breaths. She angled the cart to run parallel with the train, leaving a few feet between the cart and the train. Daring had positioned the cart some lengths before the flatbed, but the distance was closing quick as the train surged ahead.

Twilight checked to make sure all the critters were ready to jump, and saw Flutterina locked in a dead stare ahead of them. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“C-c-c-cliff!” Flutterina managed to eke out, pointing a hoof ahead.

Twilight turned and saw what freaked out Flutterina. The train tracks continued onto a narrow wood-framework bridge, crossing the gap between the two sides of a wide and very deep canyon.

“Don’t worry!” Daring called back. “Get everypony onto that train!”

Twilight pointed to the flatbed with her hoof as it moved into place parallel with them. “Go now! Jump!”

The animals quickly followed her command, with the bear helping to toss some of the smaller creatures across.

“That means you too, Flutterina!” Twilight shouts at the pony, frozen in fear.

“B-b-but I don’t like to fly...” Flutterina whispered, shivering on the spot.

Twilight rolled her eyes for a brief moment before channeling her magic to levitate the scared-stiff mare across the gap. Flutterina let out a soft “eep” and squirmed in the spell’s aura, her eyes firmly shut. Twilight unceremoniously dropped her into the flatcar before doing a final check. Only the bear was left and as she watched, the ursine was making a running leap onto the flatbed.

“Daring, we’re all clear!” Twilight yelled, before making the short jump herself, crashing into Flutterina. After untangling herself from the mare, she looked to see Daring still racing ahead with the cart, the cliff edge dangerously close. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the enormous mass of Pinkzilla racing for the train only hundreds of feet away.

“What are you doing?!” Twilight shouted.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be right with you!’ Daring called back. The mare put her head down and set into a faster gallop.

“DARING!” Twilight called again, just as the train started to cross the bridge. Daring and the cart fell over the edge, dropping out of side from the flatbed. Twilight could only gasp in shock.

“Oh, no!” Flutterina mumbled from behind Twilight, hanging onto the mare for dear life.

“We’ve got to stop the train! We need to go back and get her!” Twilight barked out, without thinking. Her head turned from side to side, looking for anypony to help her. “Quick, somepony get the cond—”

Something tapped Twilight’s front hoof. She looked down to find one of the bunnies poking at her while gesturing upwards with a free paw. Twilight followed the paw’s direction, looking up in the sky to see a flash of brownish-gray streak out of the canyon. Daring did a loop-de-loop above the bridge before coming to a quick landing on the flatbed.

“Oh, thank Celestia!” Twilight let go of her breath, as Daring shook out her wings before tucking them away. “I thought you were doomed.”

“Twilight, I told you, I’m Daring Do! Danger is my middle name!” The mare stood proudly, as the rescued animals gave her appreciative chirps, squeaks, and squawks.

Flutterina still kept a good grip on Twilight as she gasped in awe of Daring. “Oh, Daring, that was amazing,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Daring took a brief bow, tipping her hat to Flutterina. “All part of my day, ma’am.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and looked back from where they had come from. Pinkzilla had reached the edge of the canyon, and appeared to be stomping her feet in anger. Specks of black whirled about her head; Twilight guessed that the Grimacing Griffons were still trying to take down the giant creature. She sighed, muttering to herself, “What did I do to deserve this?”

Author's Note

And now for a little bit of light shipping. But all for laughs, right?

The Lawmare

“So this is where y’all have been hidin’!” Applejack said as she walked into Pinkie’s bedroom.

“Hey, AJ,” Rainbow greeted her friend. Pinkie sat enraptured by Fluttershy’s story as she dictated it to Spike.

“I’ve been tryin’ to find Twilight all day, she was supposed to come ta Sweet Apple Acres and help with a chores, but ah never saw her.”

“Oh, well,” Rainbow Dash blushed. “She, um, learned the hard way to avoid doing her magic while I’m cloud bucking.” She rubbed the back of her neck, trying to look innocent.

Applejack facehooved. “Oh, not again, RD! That’s like, what, the third unicorn that’s happened to?”

“She’s been in a really foul mood all day, so we’re all writing a story to cheer her up!” Pinkie happily said.

“Now that’s an interestin’ idea! Can ah help? I always wanted to tell a good yarn.”

“Jump right in, AJ,” Rainbow offered her seat near Spike. “Fluttershy’s story of this ‘magical tea maiden’ taking a magical train to the biggest tea party ever isn’t exactly the most exciting thing.”

“Hey, I happen to like the idea of tea parties, I’m sure Twilight does too,” Fluttershy protested.

Applejack had taken her spot, laying down on Pinkie’s rug. “Mmm, yeah, this definitely needs a bit of kick. Maybe a good ol’ fashioned train robbery.” She cleared her throat in preparation to dictate her story to Spike. “‘The bandit were aimin’ ta board the Appleloosa Express, ready to steal the shipment of bits that was bein’ delivered to the Appleloosa Orphanage. But they didn’t expect that they’d be facin’ against the Lone Silver and her trusty mount, Ranger!’”

“Now, this is more like it!” Rainbow plopped herself on the ground with a big smile on her face.

Some minutes later, Twilight and Flutterina were sitting across from each other in one of the train cars. Like much of this dream-like space, there were no other beings around besides themselves on the train—even the engine was empty, the train somehow running itself. They had settled the animals into a different car, but the two had lost track of Daring during the ordeal.

“Um, where do you think that Daring Do went off to?” Flutterina quietly asked, playing with her tea kettle in her hoofs.

“Don’t know, don’t care,” Twilight mumbled, staring out the train window at the passing scenery. As soon as they crossed the canyon, the landscape had shifted from grasslands and forest to a wider arid plains. Twilight’s previous travels to Appleloosa and Dodge came to mind.

“What’s wrong, Twilight?” Flutterina had crossed over, placing a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Would a cup of tea help? Or I have my bottomless biscuit basket here—”

“No!” Twilight huffed.

Flutterina pulled back, turning away from the mare. “Oh, sorry, I’ll just go back—”

Twilight sighed and turned back to Flutterina.”No, it’s not your fault. Just that ever since I’ve been brought to wherever this place is, I’ve been subjected to events that could only come from the minds of my friends. A giant candy-loving monster is Pinkie to the core. Rainbow Dash can never stop talking about Daring Do ever since I introduced her to the series, and you,” she waved a hoof at Flutterina, “you’re even a more freighted version of Fluttershy.”

“Uh, ‘Pinkie’? ‘Fluttershy’?’ Flutterina asked, looking ashamed.

“Just forget I mentioned them.’ Twilight turned back to the window, moping on the window’s edge. “This ‘world’ is full of physical impossibilities. I know there’s no geography like this anywhere in Equestria. I just want to get back home.” She sniffed a bit, wiping a tear from her eye.

The far door of the train car burst “There you are!” Daring’s voice boomed out.

The two mares turned to look at the adventurer. Gone was the dirty olive-brown shirt, replaced with loose but spiffy wool jacket, blouse, and bow tie, accompanying her ubiquitous pith helmet.

“Ohhh, that looks nice, Daring,” Flutterina offered.

“Where’d you get that?!” Twilight blurted out.

“Hey, when Daring Do travels, she travels in style,” Daring said, slowly walking down the train aisle towards the two, showcasing her outfit to them

“Of course she does,” Twilight grumbled to herself.

“Hey, don’t worry, I’ve got something for you too, Twilight.” Daring lifted up a bundle of clothes, raising them above Twilight’s head and rapidly bringing them down across her torso. Twilight yelped at the action, before looking down at the outfit Daring thrust upon her—a loose blouse along with a prim, brown vest-jacket. “There, now you look like a proper sidekick for the great Daring Do!”

Twilight sat stunned for a moment from the sudden wardrobe change, before taking a minute to admire the outfit. “Hey, this isn’t too bad—wait, sidekick?!”

“Oh, do I get one?” Flutterina asked, expectantly.

Daring bowed before her, lifting the yellow hoof in hers. “You’re already as beautiful as you need to be, ma’am.”

“Oh, tee hee,” Flutterina giggled, blushing.

“Oh, Celestia,” Twilight moaned, planting her forehead onto her hoof.

A loud splat rang on one of the train windows. The trio turned to see a pie pan slowly drip off the window frame and fall away as the train sped forward.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “What now?”

Another pie splattered against a neighboring window. Daring had crossed over to that side of the car, flattening her body on a wall next to a window and peeked out. “Looks like a train robbery!”

“A r-r-robbery?!” Flutterina eeped, and cowered in the corner of a seat.

Twilight took her own glance as more pies continued to hit the train. Outside were about half a dozen or so carts, each pulled by a pair of stallions. On each, ponies were throwing pies from a large supply at the train. All of them—both pullers and throwers—wore bandanas that covered their snouts, and a range of western hats. Twilight’s mind nagged at the familiarity of some of these ponies, but between the thrown pies and dust brought up by the caravan, she couldn’t easily tell. “Huh, if I didn’t know better—” she started.

One of the throwers, an amber-coated stallion, paused and pointed to the train, before rearing onto his back legs. “Hey, this here is a ROOOOOO-berry!” he hollered over the noise of the carts, wheeling his front hooves all the while.

Twilight’s ear dropped, recognizing Braeburn’s masculine drawl anywhere—it was impossible to forget. “Of course. It’s about time I hit Applejack’s imagination.”

“Apple-who?” Daring asked. “You keep mentioning all these weird names.”

“Forget I said anything.” She peeked by outside, the barrage of pies continuing. One shattered through the train window, the tin clamoring on the floor. Flutterina covered her head ever further, whimpering quietly.

“We gotta find something to defend ourselves.” Daring pulled herself from the window, looking back and forth in the car. “Hold on, I’ll be right back!” She galloped towards the front of the train, disappearing into the next car.

“Hey, come back!” Twilight called out, and dodged aside as another pie crashed through the window next to her. Some of the filling splattered on her muzzle, and she took a tentative taste. “Apple. I should have guessed.”

“Stop the train and give us all your valuables!” the same stallion shouted during a pause in the barrage.

Twilight kept herself out of the line of fire. “We don’t have any valuables!” she shouted through the broken window.

Another pie tin flew through the window in responses, and the dessert attack resumed.

An idea struct Twilight. “Flutterina, didn’t you say you had an endless supply of sweets?”

Flutterina didn’t move from her cowering, her eyes shut tighter and her hooves covering her head. “Y-y-y-yes, I suppose...”

“We need them, now! Until Daring gets back here from wherever she went off to.” Twilight crouched down, out of the line of fire, to maker her way to Flutterina. She put her hoof onto her head. “Don’t worry, you’ll be safe.”

Flutterina looked up, her eyes wet with tears. “Okay, if you say so... but what will tea biscuits do?”

“If anything, slow the bandits down until we can get more help,” Twilight offered her hoof to help Flutterina up. Shakily, Flutterina got to her legs. “Now, just stay low, you can take cover by that bench, but just keep giving me your biscuits, okay?”

Flutterina nodded slowly, and followed Twilight as they slunk back to the far window. Having taken a spot under the train bench, Flutterina grabbed at a small basket that was on her neck chain. She took it into both hooves, turned it upside down, and started shaking it. A virtual waterfall of biscuits started to form a small heap on the floor.

Twilight looked a bit awestruck as the magic. “Okay, I think we’re going to be set there. Just keep that up, Flutterina!” She focused her magic into the pile, taking a large number of the biscuits into an ordered mass, floating just at the level of the window. With another twitch, Twilight commanded the biscuits to launch themselves at the bandits, the rapid firing sending a barrage at the nearby bandit carts. Twilight was too focused on maintaining the magic to see the results for herself, but the yelps of pain coming from outside told her it was working.

“Oh, it’s working,” Flutterina quietly offered, looking on in awe while continuing to provide ammunition for Twilight’s offensive spell. “You knocked one of the bandits off their cart!”

“Great!” Twilight released her spell having emptied her first load of biscuits. She took a few quick breaths before pouring her magic into another round of biscuit-ammunition.

As Twilight was making her second attack, the door to the adjoining car crashed open. Daring raced back in, pushing a dessert trolley with her head. “Here we go! Time to fight fire with fire!” She grabbed a few of the treats from it before using her rear hooves to kick the trolley down to the far end of the car towards Twilight.

Twilight finished off her second round of the biscuit barrage and then grabbed at the trolley as it passed. “Flutterina, grab something here and start throwing it!” she ordered, taking a plate of eclairs and using her magic to fling them at the carts.

“Um, are you sure it’s okay?” Flutterina asked, nervously.

Twilight continued to fire off pastries at the bandit forces. “Whatever these bandits want, it’s not a good thing. Of course it’s okay!”

Flutterina tentatively looked between the window and Twilight, and to the trolley, and then cautiously crawled over it, grabbing a small fruit tart gingerly in her hooves. She slowly crept back to the window and took the briefest of peaks out of it. Closing her eyes, she aimlessly threw the tart out the window. To Twilight’s surprise, the dessert hit one of the throwing bandits square in the eyes, and the stallion wobbled over the side of the cart he was in while trying to wipe the fruit pastry from his sight. “Hey, nice shot!” Twilight complimented her.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to hit anypony,” Flutterina backed off.

“No, no, that’s a good thing! Keep that up!”

The trio continued to fire back, a full-fledge war of dessert fighting between the train and the carts. Their ammunition on the dessert tray was starting to run low, Twilight noted as she grabbed at a plate full of donuts. And they still had numerous carts to deal with. “Daring, we’re almost out here,” she called up to her.

Suddenly, the noise from the bandits riding alongside the train change. Twilight and Daring peaked out the windows, and saw that the bandits’ attention was no longer on the train but on something coming up from behind them.

“I hope it’s not that Pinkzilla creature,” Daring yelled over din.

Twilight had craned her neck out to see exactly what it was. “Thank Celestia, it isn’t! It’s Applejack!”

Trailing the bandits but gaining ground every moment was a giant dog—a larger-than-life version of Winona, Twilight noted—with the familiar orange-coated mane riding atop it. Applejack’s hat was unmistakable, despite it being white, but Twilight was curious as to the mask that covered her eyes, and white shirt and vest she wore.

“Hee-haw! Hi-ho, Ranger!” Applejack shouted, pulling on the reins leading to the giant dog’s leash. Ranger jumped ahead and pounced on one of the carts, sending the bandits on it flying off. The hitch that connected the pullers to the cart snapped, and now free of their load, the pair of stallions galloped away in panic, shouting to their fellow bandits “Run! It’s the Lone Silver!”

Applejack—The Lone Silver, Twilight surmised—used the momentum to propel herself to another cart. The throwing bandits on it were stunned, giving the Lone Silver the opportunity to buck them off the cart. The stallions pulling the cart realized their fellow bandits has been knocked away, and ground their cart to a halt, at the same time as she jumped onto the back of another wagon.

Both Twilight and Daring stared flabbergasted at the feats outside the train. Even Flutterina had managed to crawl over to a window and peak out to see what was going on. “Wow, she’s good!” Daring said, appreciatively. “Not as good as yours truly, of course.”

“Riiii-ight,” Twilight groaned under her breath.

The Lone Silver and her giant dog made short work of the bandits, either disabling the carts or dealing with the bandits. She had managed to grab onto the one stallion that resembled Braeburn, holding him by biting down on his tail. She gave a brief whistle through her clenched teeth to Ranger, who had stopped a cart and was playfully licking one of its bandits. Ranger perked at the noise and lumbered forward, gaining pace with the still-moving cart. The Lone Silver tossed the bandit over onto the dog’s back, and then jumped over herself.

Their hero took Ranger’s reins and edged her mount towards the train, coming even with the cart the three were riding in. “Y’all okay in there?” she shouted over the din of the speeding train.

“Just fine, thank you,” Twilight called out.

Daring leaned out the window and waved excited. “You were amazing!”

“Just doing mah duty, ma’am,” the Lone Silver called out, taking off her hat and giving them a short bow. “Them bandits been tryin’ ta take down every train nowadays, ya can’t be too careful. Ya’ll mind if I come aboard? Gotta bring this fella to justice.” She nodded at the bandit, laid out flat across the dog’s back, stunned by the last few minutes.

“Er, sure, why not?” Twilight shrugged.

The three watched as the Lone Silver snapped the reins briefly. Ranger yipped and slowed down a notch, bringing her even with the back end of the car. Twilight and Daring moved towards the end of the car, stepping into the connecting platform between cars.

“Here, grab this fella for me, would you?” the Lone Silver shouted, taking the bandit’s tail in her mouth again.

“Right, go ahead!” Daring waved. The Lone Silver heaved at the stallion’s tail and flung the pony across the few feet of open space. Daring grabbed onto the bandit as he landed on the platform, and dragged him back into the car.

Once the platform was clear, Silver made the jump over, landing gracefully on four hooves. She took off her hat and waved back to Ranger. “Go on home, girl, I’ll meet ya there!”

The giant dog barked in acknowledgement and headed off away from the train, soon lost to sight as the train surged ahead.

“Thanks for the help out there, y’all,” The Lone Silver said, shaking Twilight’s hoof. “Been tryin’ to catch this bandit gang for months!”

Twilight shook her head. “No, it was your timely arrival that helped us. We were running low on desserts ourselves.”

The Lone Silver laughed. “Let’s just call it even and leave it at that, partner?”

“Sure thing,” Twilight smiled, and followed Silver into the car. There, Daring had found a length of rope and was hog-tying the lead bandit, while Flutterina sat on a bench, taking short, quick breaths.

“Figured you’d want this guy tied up there,” Daring offered, pulling the last knot tight with her teeth.

“Perfect!” The Lone Silver tipped her hat to the three. Twilight was able to get a better look at SIlver’s outfit and was reminded of that of Sheriff Silverstar from Appleloosa, down to the sheriff star badge pinned to it. “Ah’m afraid ah didn’t catch your names?”

“I’m Daring Do, adventurer extraordinaire!” the mare said proudly, shaking Silver’s offered hoof. “The little miss over here is Flutterina, and my assistant there is Twilight Sparkle.”

“Assistant?” Twilight said incredulously.

“Sorry y’all had to encounter them bandits.They’ve been raiding every train that comes through these parts, looking for somethin’ valuable to steal.” Silver put her hoof down with some force on the back of the bandit see captured. “Isn’t that right?”

The stallion yelped at the pain. “Er, yes ma’am!” he yelped nervously.

“Well, I reckon that this should tell you that you bandits better stop attackin’ these trains. Ain’t been nothin’ of value save for the orphans, and y’all wouldn’t want to steal from orphans, would ya?” Silver ground her hoof a bit harder into the stallion’s back.

The bandit grunted in pain. “No, ma’am!”

“Good, that’s all ah needed to hear!” Silver bent down and grabbed at the knot on the ropes and lifting the stallion off the train floor. She carried him back out to the walkway between the two cars. “Just make sure all your friends know that too, right?” she uttered through her teeth.

“Yes, ma’am!” The stallion gave her a vigorous nod.

“Great! Now just hold on...” Silver looked at the passing scenery, and started to swing the stallion by the rope. All of a sudden she let him go, causing him to fly out past the train, landing softly in a passing cactus patch. His cry of pain carried over the sound of the train engine.

Silver walked back in, where the others had watched what she had done. “That’ll teach him. Now where can a mare get a drink around here?”

“Oh, I have some tea here,” Flutterina offered.

“Quite charmin’, missus,” Silver nodded. “I’ll reckon I’ll take a cup.”

Some time later, the four had settled into one set of seats that were mostly free of the glass shards and dessert crumbs from the previous fight. Flutterina had provided them all with a warm cup of tea. For Twilight, it had been the first real moment of rest she had since appearing in the candy version of Ponyville some hours ago, and she was retelling the events she had experienced to the other three.

“Wait, are you saying we’re not real?” Daring poked at herself and Flutterina with a hoof. “Sure feels real to me.”

“Well, I don’t know if you’re really ‘real’ or not,” Twilight offered. “For all I know, this could be a different world that I’ve been transported to. But, and I hate to break it to you, but I’ve got a whole shelf of books in my library about your adventures, Daring.”

“Well of course! I’m that famous, right?”

Twilight shook her head. “They’re all fiction. In my world, you only exist as a character on paper. But that doesn’t explain why I’m here with you.”

“You mean, ah’m in a book too?” Silver asked, a worried look on her face.

“No, at least, not that I’m aware. But you just look exactly like my friend AJ. And Flutterina is a spitting image of Fluttershy.” Twilight paused, a flash of realization. “And considering that you, Daring, are basically Rainbow Dash’s idol, and Pinkzilla is just a giant twisted version of Pinkie Pie, I wonder... did I end up in a world created by my friends’ imagination?”

“Oh, that sounds ominous,” Flutterina whispered, cowering into her corner of the seat.

Twilight gently touched Flutterina. “I’m not trying to scare you, but I’m more worried about myself. I’m stuck in this world, whatever it is, and without access to my books or Princess Celestia, I have no idea how I’m going to get home. I don’t even know if anypony’s aware that I’m gone.”

“I dunno, from what you’ve said, it sounds like these friends of yours would have jumped into action when they discover you to have disappeared,” Daring offered.

“Trust me, Daring, you don’t know my friends very—ARRRGH!”

The group was suddenly thrown forward as a grinding metal-on-metal noise came from all around. Twilight crashed into the seat in front of her, banging her shoulder against its wooden frame. “What now?!”

“Somepony’s stopping the train!” Daring called out, looking at the scenery outside started to come to a halt.

“But there wasn’t a conductor!” Twilight protested, helping Flutterina who tumbled over upside down get back to her hooves.

A dark shape zipped by the train windows, too fast to make out. The Lone Silver galloped to the window to try to see what passed them. “It looks like some kind of giant bird.”

Twilight joined the masked hero at the window. “A giant bird...oh dear...”

Another dark shape shot by the opposite window, its shadow flickering in the car.

“That’s not a bird! That’s the Grimacing Griffons!” Daring shouted.

Twilight snuck her head out through the window and looked towards the back of the train. Several of the Grimacing Griffons were flying up and down the lengths of the locomotive while others had latched onto the sides with their sharp talons, flapping with all their might to counter the forward direction of the train. In the distance, an indistinct cloud of brown and gray specks was rapidly nearing the train.

Twilight ducked back inside as another Griffon shot by. “You just had to go and tick them all off, didn’t you, Daring?” Twilight nagged.

“What’re these Griffons?” The Lone Silver asked, taking her own gander at the attacking forces.

“It’s really a long story,” Twilight said. “Let’s just say, they’re not friendly.”

A loud crash of glass breaking rang through the back door of the car, and gruff voices could be heard.

“Quick, block the door!” Twilight pointed with a hoof.

Daring and the Lone Silver simultaneously jumped, bracing themselves with their backside at the door just as it tried to bang open. “Twilight, get the dessert trolley!” Daring shouted, planting her hooves in the carpet to keep herself at the door as the Griffons continued to pound at it.

“Er, right,” Twilight spun around, looking for the ravaged dessert trolley from earlier. It has slid towards the front of the car, and she quickly enveloped it in her magic to send it back to the others. “Here we are, but I don’t think that would do much good—”

“Smash it!” The Lone Silver ordered. “We can use the wood!”

“Oh, right! Watch out, Flutterina,” Twilight cautioned the mare nearby as she surged her magic aura around the cart, throwing it to the floor of the train. The pieces of the troller shattered, leaving the supporting frame rods among the other shards of wood.

“Perfect!” Daring turned herself forward, setting her weight on her front hooves while pushing against the banging door with her back ones. This gave her enough leverage to lean forward and grab at one of the rods from the debris of the trolley. “Here, stick that in the door handle, Silver!” she hollered, tossing the rod back behind her.

“You gotcha, partner!” The Lone Silver grabbed the rod in mid-air in her mouth, and quickly slid it in place. The two stepped back, the rod just holding the door in place.

“Oh, dear, that’s not going to last long,” Flutterina muttered, panickedly.

“Let’s get to the next car, we just need to hold them off long enough,” Twilight asserted, pointed towards the front of the train.

The Lone Silver led the group, opening the door at the far end while Twilight helped Flutterina up. Daring walked backwards, keeping her eye on the barricaded door.

“Uh, guys, we’ve got a problem,” the Lone Silver offered as she opened the door on the next car. Twilight glanced forward to see half a dozen Griffons already occupying that car, their heads turning as one at the commotion from the end of the car. Silver slammed the door shut, pressing herself against it.

“Roof!” Daring called out. “Get to the roof!”

Twilight didn’t acknowledge the order but simply jumped for the ladder that led to the roof. She quickly scrambled up and reached off to offer a hoof. “Flutterina, get up here!”

“I-I don’t know if I can climb,” Flutterina eked out, peering at the ladder.

“Don’t worry, I got her!” Daring said as she grabbed the frightened pegasus with her hooves and made the quick flight to the roof. “We’re getting to the front of the train!”

The Lone Silver waited for Daring to disappear out of her sight before launching herself at the ladder. Twilight reached out a hoof to help the masked mare up. “Thanks, partner!”

Twilight tilted her head towards the front of the train, where Daring and Flutterina had headed off to. “Hurry up, those Griffons are going to be here in a moment!”

The pair jumped to the next car, just as the door below them slammed open and the Griffons swarmed out. Twilight and the Lone Silver galloped to catch up with Daring and Flutterina within a car length.

Twilight shot a glance behind them, seeing several Griffons climb up to the roof, vicious looks on their faces. One of them gave a gruff, unintelligible order to the others, pointing to the left and right of the train. She called ahead to the others. “They’re going to try to flank us!”

“We’re running out of cars here, Twilight!” Daring shouted, flying ahead with Flutterina in her grip. “One more and we’re at the engine.”

“N-n-not only that, but look! Are those the b-b-bandits?” Flutterina pointed anxiously ahead with a hoof to a number of dust clouds rising in the distance, heading right for the train. Twilight squinted as she ran, and could see the familiar sight of more carts being pulled by a number of stallions.

“Just go as far as you can, Daring!” Twilight ordered, making the lead between the roofs of two cars alongside the Lone Silver. “Silver, do you think you can hold off the Griffons for a few minutes? If I can get to the train engine—”

“Go ‘head, Twilight! I got these!” The Lone Silver made a short jump into a braking slide as Twilight raced ahead. Coming to a stop, Silver turned and firmed her stance on all four hooves, eying the trio of Griffons closing in on her. As soon as the lead one got close, she lept at the griffon, landing all four hooves on its chest and sending it sprawling. His two comrades gawked for a moment at the sudden attack, giving Silver the chance to buck them both off the train. “Who’s next?” she called out, eying the next pack of Griffons that were gathering on the adjoining car’s roof.

Twilight watched for a moment as the Lone Silver dealt with the Griffons, and nearly collided with Daring Do and Flutterina when she turned back. Stumbling to a stop, she saw why the pegasus had stopped—some of the Griffons had flown ahead of them and were climbing around and through the engine to intercept the group. Meanwhile, the bandits had gotten closer and were starting to circle the train, hooting and cheering on the Griffons.

“Oh, horseapples,” Daring muttered, rapidly turning her head to look for an escape route. Flutterina could only cover her eyes with her hooves, shivering in fright.

Twilight panicked. Not that she hadn’t felt scared or afraid for her life any time during the last several hours, but this was the first time she truly felt helpless. Every other time she had been in a tight situation, there was a narrow escape that had come in the nick of time—just have if it had been written that way in a story. But here, there was no sign at all of help coming. The Lone Silver was doing her best to keep the Griffons behind them at bay, knocking a few off the train but the rest mostly staying out of her bucking range. Daring had managed to coax Flutterina to upend her biscuit basket again and was tossing the desserts at the Griffons, stalling their approach.

Twilight turned to the sky and screamed. “Oh, Celestia, is there anypony out there that can help us?!”

Author's Note

I've always wondered how a Nielson dungeon would work with ponies.

As always, please any comments, critiques, errors, etc., as comments or PM.

The Discovery

“Oh, there you all are,” Rarity announced as she walked up the stairs into Pinkie's room. “Have any of you seen Twilight this afternoon?”

Applejack continued to recite lines to Spike, while the others turned to look at the new arrival. “I haven’t seen her since this morning since, well, you’ve probably heard by now,” Rainbow Dash said, blushing a bit.

“We’ve just been writing a story here to help cheer her up,” Fluttershy offered.

“Oh, that seems like a fine idea,” Rarity nodded. “She was just in a terrible mood, and I don’t think even the emergency spa treatment helped her completely out of it. We were going to do lunch, but she just seemed to disappear.”

Applejack had finished her part but scratched her chin. "That's odd. She didn't show up to help some chores around Sweet Apple Acres, either."

"Oh, she probably got herself lost in a book again," Rainbow Dash offered. "You know how often that happens with Twilight."

The others all gave a knowing nod.

“Wanna see what we’ve got so far?” Pinkie asked with glee, pushing over a few of the first parchment sheets they had written.

“But of course, dears. Let’s see here.” Rarity reached down with a hoof to lift up the paper, but a spark of magic shot up from the paper as soon as contact was made. Rarity gave a sharp yelp and quickly pulled her hoof away in shock.

The whole group had turned to look. “You okay there, Rarity?” Applejack asked.

“This paper,” Rarity said urgently, her magic levitating the page up to her face. “Where did you get this paper?”

“Umm, it was just sitting on the table in the library.” Spike shrugged. “Why, what’s wrong?”

Rarity frowned as she used her telekinesis to inspect the page from all sides, “Twilight was telling me about this parchment. I fear it may be the special delivery of magic-infused paper that Princess Celestia had sent her to document her magic studies.”

“‘Magic-infused’? Oh, ah don’t like the sound of this.” Applejack said.

Rarity has started gathering up all the loose pages of the parchment into neat bunches within her magical grasp. “I don’t know all the details, but she had mentioned something about warning Spike about the paper, something about unknown effects of dragons and the parchment’s magic.”

Spike sat stunned, and then turned to his claw, where the quill was still hanging over the last sentence he wrote. He quickly pulled it away with a shout. “Oh, no! I didn’t know!”

Having all but the current page in the stack, Rarity quickly scanned through the story so far. “Oh, dear, oh, dear...”

“Uh, Rarity, do you think—” Fluttershy asked.

“I’m afraid that instead of actually writing Twilight a story, you’ve written Twilight into the story.”

The others gasped with shock.

“Wait, wait,” Applejack broke up the muttering of the other mares. “Ah’ve never said a thing about Twi!”

Fluttershy shook her head. “Me neither!”

“I certainly didn’t put Twilight in my story. Why would I want to put her in the way of a Daring Do story?”

There was a moment of silence. The others turned to Pinkie, expectantly.

“Um, I might of mentioned Twilight at the very start...” Pinkie eked out, her giant smile faltering under the intense stares of the others.

Rarity continued to look through the pages hovering in front of her. “You may have not have mentioned Twilight, but, she’s all throughout this.” Her magic lifted the last page that Spike had just finished, showing it to the others.

“Hey, that’s my part, but—” Applejack leaned closer to read Spike’s claw-writing. “Wait, ah never said that!” Her hoof pointed to the final line that read:

Twilight turned to the sky and screamed. “Oh, Celestia, is there anypony out there that can help us?!”

Pinkie pushed Applejack out of the way. “Her name’s all over the page!”

Applejack had carefully read through the text. “That’s nothin’ like what ah I described. Ah mean, there’s the Lone Silver and all, but she was just goin’ to stop that bandit gang. There weren’t anythin’ about Daring Do, Pinkzilla, or Flutterina!”

“I need to check this!” Rainbow zipped over to where the pages were still levitating in Rarity’s magical hold, and started flipping through them. Pulling one from the front of the stack, she scanned over the page. “This is completely different! Sure, I had Daring Do racing from the Grimacing Griffons, but this isn't anything like I had told.” Letting the page loose, she turned in mid-air towards Spike. “You did that on purpose!”

Spike was taken aback. “Hey, no way! You guys asked me to take down the story, and that’s just what I did. I do that for Twilight all the time when she has me write out her research papers—I just get a place where’s there’s only me, the quill, and the paper. I don't know what the words she's actually telling me, just that I get them down on paper right.”

“Don’t be too quick to blame poor Spikey-wikey,” Rarity offered, still studying the pages intently. “I’m not well versed on such magic, but he may have been unaware that Twilight was written into the story.”

“Oh dear,” Fluttershy gasped, holding her hooves to her mouth.

“But how did our stories come out so differently than what we said?” Pinkie asked, having looked over her part of the story. “I would have never had Pinkzilla chase Twilight like that!”

Rarity mulled the question for a moment, her brow furled in concentration. “Unfortunately, Twilight’s the expert in magic, but I would say at first blush that with Spike’s dragon nature and the magic contained within the paper, your subconscious put those in there.”

“I’d never want to have Twilight troubled like that,” Fluttershy asserted softly. “It couldn’t have been that way!”

“Ain’t no way I’d do that to my PFF!” Applejack nagged.

Rarity shook her head. “No, none of you are to blame either. It’s just a bad set of circumstances. But I’m certain your subconscious was guiding this.” She turned towards Rainbow Dash. “I may not be as into your ‘Daring Do’, Rainbow, but she seems far more, what’s the word... ‘boastful’... than I recall.”

“Er, well, I might have gotten carried away...” Rainbow grinned sheepishly.

“It’s the same with these other characters. They may not be you, specifically, but they all seem to be exaggerated versions of your individual personalities.”

“But we never said anything like that!” Pinkie protested.

Rarity continued to flip through the pages held in her magic aura. “I remember Twilight saying something about why the parchment was special, reading on the user’s thoughts to aid in transcription. Perhaps with Spike's dragon nature, it was the paper itself making him write it out that way."

Spike was looking between his claw and the unused stack of parchment, his eyes wet with tears. "I vaguely remember feeling like something was guiding the quill, but I had just chalked that up to being in the zone. Oh, Twilight, I didn't mean to!" He dropped the quill and grabbed at his tail to comfort himself.

Rarity set the compiled stack of papers down. "Cheer up, Spike. At least we do know is that she’s still safe—relatively speaking, of course, and what’s her situation right now.”

Rainbow flew above the group, treading the air above them with anxiety. “But if she’s in the story, how can we get her out?”

Rarity shook her head. “I’m afraid Twilight’s the only one that will know that.”

“Maybe there’s some way we can communicate with her?” Pinkie asked.

Rarity mulled the idea over. “There might be something, but Spike, since it is your dragon nature that is likely causing this to happen, you’re going to have to write for me, okay?”

Spike let go of his tail, and picked up the discarded quill. “Of course, Rarity, just say the word.”

Twilight had not woken up this morning expecting to be escaping a pack of militarized griffons on top of a stopped train with the aid of an adventurous archaeologist and a masked hero, while trying to protect a defenseless tea maiden, all while a gang of bandits and a giant pink monster were all on their tail. She stood back, with Flutterina cowering behind her, as Daring and the Lone Silver took turns pummeling the griffons that got close on either side of the train car roof. “I don’t know how this could get any worse,” she mumbled aloud.

“Twilight, can you hear me?” Daring asked in a rather flat voice. The adventurer had turned to face her, seemingly oblivious to the violence going on behind her.

“Of course I can hear you, you’re right there!” Twilight shouted in frustration, watching the advancing griffons carefully cross over the length of train cars. The Lone Silver had taken down another group of Grimacing Griffons, but their advancing numbers were starting to weigh against her.

Just as Twilight was about to nag Daring for not replying, the adventurer spoke up. “Twilight, it’s me, Rarity.” Again, her voice was monotone, and lacked all the excitement she had shown previously.

“Yeah, right, you’re Rar—” Twilight stopped herself, realization dawning on her. Daring hadn’t known any of her friends, why we should she suddenly know Rarity, of all ponies? Somepony was trying to speak to her! They heard her cry! “Rarity, is that you? What the hay is going on?” Twilight asked impatiently, staring into Daring’s face.

Spike’s claw jerked with sudden movement, dragging the quill across the paper. “What’s happening?” he asked nervously, carefully not to disturb whatever force was controlling his arm.

The five mares had closed in around where he was writing, watching the scrawling develop into words. “Just keep calm, Spike. Let the magic do its work.” Rarity carefully instructed him.

Fluttershy read the message out to the group as they were inked onto the page.

“Rarity, is that you? What the hay is going on?” Twilight asked impatiently, staring into Daring’s face.

“She can hear us!” Pinkie gasped.

Rarity nodded. “Spike, go ahead and write down what’s happened. Let’s see if she has any ideas. Just make sure to have Daring say it so that Twilight will hear it.”

“Right!” Spike quickly refilled the quill and wrote out a lengthy paragraph that summarized the situation. He then moved the tip of the quill to the next blank spot on the parchment, and held it steady.

If they weren’t already close enough, the other five mares nudged in tighter around Spike, watching the tip of the quill expectantly.

“Oh!” Spike gave off a short gasp as he felt the quill move under its own power, allowing to drag his claw across the page. It took a minute for the scrawling to end.

“...and so we’re trying to figure how to get you out of the story,” Daring Do finished off. Twilight remained enraptured by the adventurer’s words, trying to unravel the details herself. The present danger that they were in were distant concerns for Twilight.

Twilight harrumphed to herself. “I knew I should have done something with that paper.Too late for that now...” She shook her head, continuing to pace. “I remember reading about a unicorn that lived centuries ago, gifted with this magic. He used it to create stories by living in them but I just can’t remember what the cantrips were.”

A moment passed before Daring responded, speaking for Rarity. “It sounds very dangerous. Can you not recall any of the warnings?”

Twilight strained to remember the book she had read, but the faint memory kept out of her grasp. “Auggh, it’s been so long! All I can remember is that once he was in the stories, he had to complete—” Twilight stopped in her step, her face lighting up. “That’s it! We’ve got to end the story!”

“‘...We’ve got to end the story!’” Rarity read off the page for the other.

“Well, that’s easy!” Rainbow Dash said proudly. “Spike, just write ‘And they lived happily ever after, The End.”! We’ll be done!”

Rarity shook her head. “It’s not that simple,” she offered, pointing to Spike’s claw that was still drawing out text on the page.

Twilight looked directly at Daring, “And don’t you think that just writing down ‘The End’ will be sufficient, Rainbow,” she nagged. “It’s got to be proper ending!”

Rainbow blushed. “Oh, I guess that’s true—wait, how did she know I was going to say that?”

Applejack chuckled. “It doesn’t take that much of a genius to know you’d have said that.”

“Hey, guys, there’s more!” Spike announced, his claw having paused on the page. They all peered at the text.

“I need to know how you would have all ended your stories,” Twilight asked.

Fluttershy spoke up first. “Well, I’d like to have been able to have the biggest and best animal tea party ever known.”

Rarity nodded to Spike. “Go ahead and let Twilight know, Spike.” Spike nodded and hastily scribbled out what Fluttershy said, as the others started to speak up.

“Daring’s got to escape with the Lunar Grail, of course.”

“The Lone Silver needs ta capture the bandits and turn ‘em in!”

“Oh, and Pinkzilla will finally get full on sweets!”

The scratching of quill-to-paper took but a few more moments to complete. A hush came over the group as they watched Spike’s arm for any sign of movement. They gasped as one when it started to write out the next line.

Twilight pondered for a moment, considering her friends’ intents.

“Well?” Rainbow blurted out. “Isn’t there more, Spike? This isn’t the time to stop!”

Spike used his free arm to point to the quill. “I don’t think so.”

Fluttershy put a hoof to Rainbow’s side. “Dashie, let Twilight think. She’ll figure a way out.”

Spike let out an urk as his arm jumped to a new line on the parchment and started to write. The ponies all held their breath as the sentences took form.

“Okay, it may be bit convoluted, but I think I know how to end all four of your stories. But you all need to concentrate on your own endings. If what you’ve told me is true, this isn’t going to work without your help.”

Author's Note

And now Rarity becomes a magic savant! Actually I needed to give somepony the smart ball to get the solution in place, but at least its not pulled out of nowhere.

The Resolution

“...and then that should be the end and I’ll get out of this Celestia-forsaken world!” Twilight exclaimed with frustration to Daring. She caught her breath, realizing how angered she was. “Uh, I mean, I know it wasn’t your fault, any of you, but—”

“Don’t worry about it,” Daring replied monotonously. “We’re all ready and watching here, Twilight. Good luck.”

Twilight nodded. At this point it was up to her to make sure her mishmash of plots could be unraveled, somehow. She took a final deep breath. “Daring!”

The adventurer jumped, as if waking from a light slumber. “Whoa, I must have blacked out there for a moment! Hey, Twilight, what do you want?”

“We’re going to need the Lunar Grail.”

Daring jumped back, snarling on all fours. “No way! I stol—er, found it fair and square!”

Twilight calmly approached her. “Don’t worry, I just need it for an extended loan.”

Daring backed up as Twilight neared, her nasals flaring. “You can’t just give away priceless artifacts! And what do you mean, an extended loan?”

“Well, what are the Grimacing Griffons after?”

“Duh, they’re after the Grail!”

“So what if we gave that Grail to somepony else...?”

“They’d go after—ah! I see!” Daring’s face lit up, realizing what Twilight was going on about. “Why didn’t you say so?” She took off her hat and dug a hoof into it. Twilight was curious how much that helmet could hold but before she could peek inside, Daring had extracted a goblet from it. “Here it is!” Daring placed the object in Twilight’s hoof.

Twilight took a quick look at the grail. It was jet black, adorned with faint etching that brought to mind of Princess Luna’s cutie mark. “Excellent.” She tossed it over the side of the train.

“WHAT?!” Daring shouted and attempted to take off to recover the treasure, but her tail was caught in Twilight’s magic. “Why’d you do that?! It took me months to get that!”

Twilight smirked, pointing with a hoof. “See who has it now.”

Daring looked down and found that the Grail had landed in the hooves of the lead bandit. “Whoa!” he hollered back to his gang. “We struck gold, boys!” The gang responded with hoots and cheers. “Let’s get this back to the hideout!”

Daring calmed down, landing back on her hooves as the wagons pulled away from the train. “Well, now how are we going to get it back, Ms. Sparkle?” she asked in a huff.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get to that later.” She looked to the back of the train, watching the Lone Silver keep the Griffons at bay. “Hey Griffons!” she shouted.

As one, the griffon army turned their heads to Twilight.

“The bandits have the Grail!” She pointed in the direction of the dust trails leading away from the trail.

Various griffons looked at each other, some in surprise, some in anger. But soon, they all started to take off from the train, reorganizing themselves as a column and speeding off in flight to catch up with the bandits.

“‘bout time y’all got rid of them!” The Lone Silver said among her heavy breathing. She took a moment to use a bandana to wipe the sweat from her face. “They were gettin’ a mite challengin’ there.” She trotted up to join with the others, carefully stepping around the prone form of Flutterina.

“You know where that bandit hideout is, Silver?” Twilight asked.

“Dart tooin’! Straight over yonder to the east.” The Lone Silver pointed with a hoof. “Can’t miss ‘em, just a cluster of buildings near th’ mountains. Just far too many of ‘em for me to take them all out.”

Twilight smiled. “Well, today just might be your chance.” She turned to Daring. “Now, Daring, I’m going to need your help for this next part. And yours too, Flutterina.”

Flutterina let out an eep. “Me? W-w-what can I do?”

Twilight prodded over to her, and leaned down to poke the basket on her neckchain. “More specifically, I need you to use this.”

“My biscuits? But why?”

Without turning around, Twilight called back behind her. “Daring, you remember where we last saw Pinkzilla?”

“That giant beast? Sure, I bet it hasn’t found a way around that canyon yet.”

“Great. Take Flutterina here, and have her lead Pinkzilla to the bandit camp.”

“What?!” Flutterina shouted. “No, no! Not me!” She tried to hide herself under her teakettle lid.

“Alright! This sounds like a job for Daring Do!” Daring flew up and over to Flutterina. “Let’s go and chase down that giant beast, girl!”

Flutterina tried to back away but her hoof felt only empty air as she neared the edge of the train. “Can’t somepony else do it? What about my animals?”

Twilight walked over to place a comforting hoof around Flutterina. “Don’t worry, they’ll be safe. The Lone Silver and I will watch over them.”

Daring dropped to grab Flutterina with her hooves. “Let’s go, I’ve got you covered, Flutterina.”

The mare could only shut her eyes and cower as she was lifted off the ground. “Please, just don’t go very high.”

“Anything for you, ma’am,” Daring offered, slowly testing their combined weight on her flight behavior. “Where should we lead it?”

“Right to the bandit’s hideout!” Twilight grinned mischiefly.

Daring laughed. “Twilight, I like the way you think.”

The Lone Silver pointed off towards the mountains far to their right. “There’s a large butte up yonder, ya can’t miss it.”

“Thanks, Silver. Come on, Flutterina, we’ve got a beast to tame!” The pair drifted off back along the tracks, the high-pitched complaints from Flutterina slowly fading in the distance.

Twilight watched them leave for a few moments. “Now, Silver,” she said, turned to the masked hero.

The Lone Silver tipped her hat. “What can I do ya for?”

“We’re going to need some transportation.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind?” Twilight called out loudly. “I could run too, you know.”

“Not one bit, ma’am,” The Lone Silver replied cheerily as she lankily galloped across the arid landscape. Twilight sat on her back, holding on to a makeshift set of reins fashioned around Silver’s neck and barrel and trying to maintain her balance. “Ah do this all the time when rescuin’ wounded ponies. You’d just be slowin’ us down.”

Twilight frowned a bit. “It just feels a bit weird, that’s all.”

Silver laughed heartedly. “Oh, ma’am, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

Twilight looked behind her, where the larger animals from Flutterina’s party were keeping pace with Silver. The larger creatures, like the bear and various rabbits, ferrets, and raccoons, were allowing the smaller ones to ride on their backs, and the various birds flew in formation just behind them. “You guys okay back there?”

Though Twilight couldn’t understand the bear’s roar, she was certain it was a roar of agreement.

“Shouldn’t be much farther, ma’am.” Silver gave a nod of her head towards a large butte that had come into view in the distance. “The bandit’s hideout is at the foot of that there mountain.”

Twilight squinted into the sunlight, trying to see anything in the distance. Though there was no recognizable shapes, she was certain there was movement near their destination. “Well, I think I see the Griffons there, that’s good.”

“What exactly is your plan with them Griffons? Ah was barely able to hold ‘em back on the train.”

“We’re not going to fight them, or the bandits. I’m hoping they’ll keep on fighting each other.” Twilight looked backwards, scanning the horizon. “We just need to make sure they keep fighting until Daring and Flutterina can get back with Pinkzilla.”

“Er, Pinkzilla?” Silver asked incredulously. “That giant monster you told us about? You sure this is a good idea?”

Twilight hesitated, biting her lip. “It’s the best solution I could think of given what my friends gave me to work with.”

The group continued to run towards the butte. Within minutes, Twilight could make out the small encampment of hodge-podge wooden shacks, a water tower, and some outbuildings, all built into a fold of the butte, protecting the camp from three sides. Presently, her attention was drawn by the various pockets of brawling that had broken out around the site. She could tell that the bandits were far outnumbered, with two or three facing against a dozen Griffons, but their strength and wits were able to keep the Griffons at bay. Scattered around the town were comatose bodies of pony and griffon alike, knocked unconscious from the fighting.

Silver brought their convoy to a halt a good distance away from the encampment, behind the cover of some boulders. “Well, we’re here, what’s the plan?”

Twilight gingerly got off Silver, her legs wobbling from the ride. She again peered to the distance horizon. “Well, I still don’t see any sign of them. They better hurry, it doesn’t look like the bandits are going to hold out much longer against the Griffons’ numbers.”

“Well, it ain’t much of a fair battle, with them Griffons being able to fly,” Silver offered.

“Hmm, maybe I can even those odds a bit.” Twilight thought back to her spell repertoire and recalled one of the weather control ones. “This might have gotten me into trouble this morning, but should work just fine without Rainbow Dash around.” She focused her magic through her horn into the air above the town.

A dense fog started to form around the encampment. The space below the fog was entirely clear but several feet above it, the fog obscured all sight through it. As the two watched, various Griffons flew out of the fog bank and tried to reorient themselves. Most took to their feet and raced back into the melee. However, stuck on the ground, the Griffons were much weaker, having to balance on all four limbs compared to the bandit ponies that were used to standing on two hooves for a short time. The bandits were able to buck and punch the vulnerable Griffons with ease, knocking out many of their numbers and shifting the balance.

“Now that’s smart thinkin’ there, Twilight!”

Twilight took a breath, recovering from the somewhat difficult spell. “It won’t last too long. Weather control spells are really more for pegasi, and I can only do a weak copy of it.” Twilight pointed a hoof to the fading fog bank. “See, it’s already dissipating.”

“It did the job, Twilight,” Silver offered, placing a hoof on her side. “Those bandits are fightin’ back just fine!”

Twilight felt a deep rumble on the ground. A few of the bandits and griffons paused in their attacks, jerking their heads up at the noise. Most of the rest, however, were still ganged together, their fighting masked by large clouds of dust.

“You feel that?” Silver asked her.

“Yes! Pinkzilla’s on the way!” Twilight happily exclaimed, her eyes glancing towards the open expanse.

The rumbling from the ground became heavier, shaking the smaller pebbles near Twilight’s hooves. The various combatants stopped their fighting as the noise grew in volume. Ponies and griffons alike turned to each other, sharing their confused and worried looks, while others turned their heads around, trying to identify the sound.

“There! There it is!” One of the griffons shouted in a guttural voice, pointing its talon in far distance. Hundreds of heads simultaneously turned in that direction.

The heat of the arid land still made the sight somewhat hazy, but it was clear something very large and very pink was moving towards the camp. The ground was now shaking at a regular pace, the sound of the wooden shacks creaking at the stress echoing over the silence that had fallen over the area.

Panic quickly set in. The hostilities between pony and griffon were forgotten as individuals started to look for hiding places or the fastest way out of the camp.

“Perfect!” Twilight cheered for herself.

Silver turned to Twilight, her eyebrow raised. “Er, you sure you know what yer doing?”

Twilight smiled. “Just keep an eye out for any bandits that try to get away, particularly the leader. This’ll be the perfect chance for you to capture them.”

An astonished look crossed Silver’s face. “Hey, yer right!” She looked at the chaos in the camp and cause sight of one pony running in their direction. “Hold tight, ma’am, I’ll get this one.” As the frightened stallion ran out of the opening, Silver grabbed a lasso from her saddlebags with her teeth, and started twirling it over her head. With an expert toss, she nabbed the bandit around his barrel, and yanked back hard. The stallion fell forwards, but before he had a chance to recover, Silver was atop him, tying the rope around his hooves. Soon enough, Silver proudly dragged the bandit back to their hiding space. “This is goin’ ta be easier than dunking for apples in a barrel,” she offered as she proceeded to get another length of rope ready.

Twilight turned to Flutterina’s animals that were watching the activities with bemusement. “Hey, do you think you can make sure these bandits don’t escape?” she asked, pointing a hoof to the tied-up stallion.

The creatures gave various forms of salutes with whatever appendages they had, and proceeded to surround the bandit with menacing stares. The bandit, who had been squirming to try to undo the ropes, took one look at the faces of the creatures around him and quickly stopped. Twilight wondered if they were channeling Fluttershy’s compelling stare to goad the bandit into submission.

Meanwhile, the earth continued to shake as the pink form grew closer. While the bandits attempted to flee right into the waiting hooves of the Long Silver, the Griffon commanders were barking orders to their underlings, attempting to restore some type of order from the pandemonium. Twilight could barely hear what they were saying, but their faces and gesturing made the intentions were clear - to attack the rapidly-approaching Pinkzilla. It took a few minutes for the first of the troops to fly out to intercept the gigantic beast.

Twilight looked back towards Pinkzilla. She could now see a madly-grinning Daring still carrying Flutterina just a few feet ahead and aboard the mouth of the giant lizard. Flutterina had her eyes closed as she shook her basket upside down in front of her, creating a flow of biscuits that continued to fall into Pinkzilla’s mouth as it moved forward. The giant monster had its eyes closed as it raced forward to catch all of the sweet goods. To Twilight, the beast’s expression was one of elation, gnashing down every so often to devour the supply of biscuits.

As soon as they were close enough, Twilight shouted to them. “Daring, that’s good enough! The Griffons are coming!”

She couldn’t hear if Daring responded, but the pegasus quickly broke out of Pinkzilla's path and flew herself and Flutterina to the rock Twilight hid behind. Pinkzilla stopped in its tracks, and opened its eyes, surprised. It looked around for its source of food until its gaze happened onto the troops of Griffons approaching it. It gave out a giant roar and races forward to attack at its foes.

Daring had gently set down the cowering Flutterina, and took a moment to dust off her wings and jacket. “That was exciting!” she exclaimed with a giant grin. “It took a while to find it, but once we did, it was a non-stop roller coaster to get it here, I’ll tell you!” She nudged Twilight in the side. “You’re going to have to write this one down, sidekick.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed. She looked to Flutterina, who still had not opened her eyes and was continuing to empty her basket, creating a small pile of biscuits on the ground. Twilight laid a hoof on the basket to stop the motion. “Flutterina, you can stop now, you did it!”

It took a moment for Flutterina to realize she was spoken to. “It-it-it is?” She peaked an eye open to see her safely on the ground. “Oh!” she said in surprise, and her body suddenly went limp, flattening herself to the ground. “Thank goodness!”

“We still need your help, Flutterina,” Twilight said, pointing to where the animals were guarding the captured bandits. “We’ve got your critters on guard duty, and we just need to make sure they keep at it, okay?”

Flutterina looked over to see where Twilight was pointing. “Oh, okay. I’ll go give them some tea, that will help,” she said as she trotted over to the group.

“Hey, assistant, any sign of the Lunar Grail yet?” Daring asked.

“No, Daring, but The Lone Silver’s still working at capturing any escaping bandit.” Just as Twilight finished speaking, Silver came by, dragging at two ropes that were connected to a pair of bounded bandits.

“Only a few more left by mah count. Still haven’t seen the leader yet though, ah bet he’s hidin’ in the camp somewhere.”

“Keep watching for any that escape, Silver. Once we’ve got the Griffons out of the way, we’ll go searching for him.” Twilight turned to look to see that the various Griffon commanders had most of the avian forces under control, and were giving rapid-fire orders to them, all directing the attacks towards Pinkzilla, despite their ineffectiveness. The creature’s short arms were surprisingly effective in swatting away the oncoming attacks and keeping the Griffons at bay.

“Why are the Griffons so set against Pinkzilla?” Twilight asked aloud. “It never did anything to them.”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Daring offered. “They just have an intense dislike for the color pink, and immediately attack anything that color. I found that out when I was trying to st— er, recover the headdress of Huitziloponi. Great way to lure the Griffons away from a lost tomb.”

“Oh, I guess that makes sense.” Twilight recalled she hadn’t had a chance to read that adventure, as Rainbow had grabbed the book immediately after it had come in to the library.

“What the hey are they doin’ now?” Silver asked. The Griffons attacks against Pinkzilla had thinned out. Turning back towards town, Twilight could see the various officers organizing the troops into a single collective attack.

“They’re going to rush Pinkzilla!” Daring yelled out.

“It can’t keep that many Griffons at bay!” Twilight concentrated for a moment, focusing her attention on Pinkzilla who continued to swat away at the few Griffons that flew around her. “Stay here, I’m going to try to warn it!”

“What?!” Daring and Silver called out simultaneously.

“We need Pinkzilla to deal with the Griffons,” Twilight exclaimed. “It’s not going to be able to handle that many at one time unless it knows they’re coming. Just stay here and keep watching out for bandits.”

Twilight didn’t wait for the two to respond, but instead willed her magic to teleport her to near Pinkzilla’s feet. She looked up at the creature that towered over her, and gulped instinctively.

“Hey, Pinkzilla!” she called out. It took her a few more shouts before the giant lizard turned its head towards the ground to look at her. It swiped away a few more Griffons before letting out a brief, questioning roar towards Twilight. Once again, Twilight through it sounded like the word “licorice”, but put the thought to the back of her mind.

“Hey, you’re about to be attacked by the Griffons!” Twilight called out, pointing to the camp where the Griffons were amassing for a coordinated attack.

Pinkzilla slowly turned its head to look. It looked confused, and scratched at its pink curls.

“Oh, for Pete’s sake...” Twilight moaned. She paused to think for a moment, and was struck by inspiration, trying to recall what Pinkie might do in this situation. “Pinkzilla! You like playing with balls, right?”

A glint of understanding flashed in the creature’s eyes. It roared again, but Twilight was sure it was asking “Ball?”

“Yes, yes! Ball!” Twilight dug her hooves into the ground, bringing up a pile of dirt that she shaped into a rough sphere. “You can play with a ball!”

The creature gave a toothy grin, but then looked around in confusion, trying to find something. It shrugged it shoulders at Twilight.

“Yes, you can use them for your ball!” Twilight pointed back towards the Griffons. The large force had started moving at high speed towards Pinkzilla, having formed a tight column directly aimed at the creature’s torso.

Pinkzilla watched the approaching Griffons, and then broke out into a smile. With a roar, it brought up her forelimbs to catch the Griffons just before they reached her. Their momentum caused most of them to pile up into the monster’s open claws, their screams and shouts of pain echoing across the land. It took only moments for most of Griffons to be absorbed into the single mass of bodies, with a few loose stragglers having escaped and trying to regain their sense of flight.

Pinkzilla clamped her claws around the Griffons, eliciting more cries of pain from the mass. The creature held the mass towards Twilight, giving out a short, pleased roar.

“Now, throw it!” Twilight demonstrated by throwing the small lump of dirt away as far as she could.

Pinkzilla’s eyes gleamed, and looked off to the distance. With amazing force, it launched the squirming mass of Griffons away from the butte, a few loose Griffons falling off it as the “ball” flew away. It landed at least a mile distance and continued to bounce and roll before disappearing out of sight. Pinkzilla clapped its claws together, grinning madly.

One of the Griffon commanders shouted “Retreat!”. The few stragglers helped to collect their injured and made a quick beeline to follow the bulk of their comrades across the arid landscape.

“Great job, Pinkzilla,” Twilight complimented the creature. “Now, just stay here for a few minutes, okay?”

Pinkzilla gave a brief roar and scratched at its head again.

“Ugh, just sit down, like this!” Twilight demonstrated by falling to her haunches.

The creature watched, and then followed suit, its landing shaking the ground once again.

Twilight was jostled around for a few moments before the land stopped moving. “Er, right. Okay, just wait here, we’ll be right back.”

Twilight trotted back over to the rock where the others were waiting, looking back to make sure Pinkzilla stayed where it was. Surprisingly, the creature just sat there, watching Twilight walk away.

“Wow, how did you do that?” Daring asked when Twilight was in earshot.

“Let’s just say I know a bit behind Pinkzilla’s motivations,” Twilight said. “But now that the Griffon problem is solved, have you found the lead bandit yet? He’s got to have the Lunar Grail.”

“Not yet. We captured a few more trying to escape,” Daring offered, keeping a close lookup on the encampment.

The Lone Silver shook her head, looking towards where Flutterina and her animals were having a cup of tea while sitting around the tied-up ponies. “Ah think we’ve got all the bandits captured but him.”

“Any ideas where he might be hiding?” Twilight asked.

“He’s rather cunning.” Silver thought for a moment. “He may be waiting for the right mo—there he is!” She pointed her hoof to the far side of the fold in the butte, where the orange-coated stallion was trying to sneak away with a loaded saddlebag. His escape path was partially hidden behind Pinkzilla’s giant body.

“Come on, Silver! Let’s go get him!” Daring was already off and flying towards the fleeing stallion. The Lone Silver was close to follow the pegasus.

The bandit, overhearing Daring’s call, broke into a gallop away from the butte. Twilight watched as Daring tried to catch up to the bandit but only only match his speed a few lengths behind her target.

“Darin’! Herd him this way!” Silver called out in pursuit, turning to pull another length of rope out of her saddlebags.

“Got it, Silver!” Daring flew to the side. The bandit, looking back in a panic, started to veer away from Daring, making a wide curve.

Silver had gotten close enough herself and planted herself near the path that Daring was luring the stallion onto. With expert ropemanship, she lassoed the front hooves of the bandit, tripping him into a cloud of dust. Daring was on the stallion in moments, holding him down by his hooves. “We got him!”

Minutes later the pair had dragged the bandit to the others.

“Woo-hee, we got them all!” The Lone Silver reared up and wheeled her hooves. “Thanks a bunch, ladies. Couldn’t have done it without you!”

“Oh, don’t mention it,” Twilight said. “And now, Daring, you probably want to check his saddlebags...”

“Of course!” Daring jumped at the opportunity, tearing the bags off the bound stallion. Ripping the strip open, she dug in and extracted the Grail. “Yes!” she shouted, hugging the treasure to
herself. “Once again, the great Daring Do has recovered another priceless artifact!”

Twilight looked around at the small group as Daring dropped the Grail back into her pith helmet. “I think we’re almost there, guys.” She pointed at Daring. “You’ve got the Grail back, and the Griffons have retreated to go lick their wounds. Silver, you’ve got your bandit gang all under wraps, ready to take in for justice. That just leaves Flutterina and Pinkzilla.”

“Wait, Pinkzilla?!” Daring demanded, pointing to the giant lizard who looked down at the group, curiously. “That creature has a happy ending?!”

Twilight nodded. “Yup. But it’s actually rather simple.” She looked back into the encampment, spotting the water tower she had seen earlier. She called up to Pinkzilla, “Hey, big guy, can you get that water tower for us?” she pointed with a hoof.

Pinkzilla stared for a moment, before pointing a claw at itself. It roared questionably.

“Yes, you! Don’t worry, we want you to do it!”

The creature shrugged and took a few steps over the other shacks. With no effort, it ripped the water tower from the wooden base it was on, the gallons of water the container had held sloshing over the town. Pinkzilla offered the tower to Twilight, still looking confused.

“Now turn it over,” Twilight offered, twirling her hoof to demonstrate. The creature followed suit.

“Great!” Twilight turned to Flutterina. “Now, Flutterina, you’ve given Pinkzilla a lot of biscuits, but it is really missing something for a tea party, right?”

Flutterina shivered behind Daring. “Um, maybe? I don’t know...”

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes, gently tapping her hoof against the kettle on Flutterina’s chain.

“Oh!” Flutterina gasped with realization. “Tea! Right!” She started to get up to her legs. “Um, a little help please?”

“No worries, ma’am,” Daring offered, taking another bow before flying up over Flutterina and taking her up in her hooves. She lifted her companion up to the level of the upturned water tower held by Pinkzilla.

“Um, just say when, okay?” Flutterina said as she fumbled with the kettle on her chain. Eventually she got it under control and started pouring tea into the makeshift cup. Twilight was surprised that the rate of flow was much faster than she expected, not the gentle stream she had served earlier back at the restaurant, but more like a garden hose, easily filling the large vessel within minutes.

Pinkzilla stared dumbfounded at the liquid as Flutterina finished up. “There you go, big guy,” she said. “It’s a nice sweet tea, and will make you all warm and happy inside!” The creature took the container to its nose and gave a deep inhale of its aroma.

“Come up, just take a sip,” Flutterina offered, using one of her cups to mimic the action of sipping.

With a shrug, Pinkzilla followed Flutterina’s suit, tipping the tower to its mouth. It rolled the liquid in its mouth for a moment before gulping it down. Instantly, it broke out into a giant, toothy grin, and took a larger gulp of the tasty beverage.

“Well, I think Pinkzilla likes it,” Twilight offered as Daring brought Flutterina back to the ground. “I think we all should have some tea as well, everypony agreed?”

“Ah certainly could go for somethin’ ta drink. Mah mouth’s drier than a desert!”

Flutterina quickly distributed cups from another basket that hung from her chain, apparently another bottomless vessel like her biscuit one, Twilight surmised. Soon, Twilight and her newfound friends, as well as Flutterina’s animals, had all been served, and the mare had a warm grin on her face. “Oh, this is a wonderful tea party!”

Daring pointed to Pinkzilla. “It may be the biggest tea party ever, considering our pink friend over there.”

Twilight nodded, taking a sip of tea. “And Pinkzilla looks like it just ate an entire sweet shop.” She nodded towards the creature, who continued to slurp down the tea from the upturned tower. “I believe that should tie up all the loose ends, right?”

Daring, the Lone Silver, and Flutterina looked back at her, with a confused looked. “Er, loose ends?” Daring asked.

“Sorry, it’s a long story. And one that is finally over!” She turned her head to the sky. “Now, Spike! End it!”

Twilight’s friends had been all staring at Spike’s writing in a hushed silence, each thinking hard about their story’s intended ending as Twilight had instructed. As the story took its heroic turns, the group had let out brief cheers and shouts, but quickly hushed up as Spike’s arm continued to scribble on the page.

“Now Spike! End it!”

Spike held the quill at the end of that line, staring at the page. The noise of quill on paper was suddenly absent in the room.

“Er, Spike,” Pinkie spoke, prodding Spike gently. The dragon didn’t respond, beads of sweat on his brow while he stared at his claw.

“SPIKE!” Rainbow yelled in Spike’s ears.

“Agggh! What?!” Spike nearly jumped up halfway to ceiling.

“Um, Twilight says you can end the story now,” Fluttershy offered, pointing out the last bit of text on the scroll.

“Oh, oh! Right!” Spike dipped the quill into the ink jar one last time, and, in big broad letters, quickly scribbled “THE END” on the scroll.

There was a sudden whooshing noise in the room, like several hundred ponies had taken a deep inhale. The pages with the transcribed story started to glow a brilliant light. As soon as it started, the light faded away instantly. The pages remained still on the floor of Pinkie’s bedroom.

“What just happened?” Applejack asked.

Rarity stepped over, and carefully reached her hoof to the stack of sheets, biting her lip in anticipation. She made contact with the paper without incident, the spark that occurring the first time not appearing now. “Whatever that magic was, it’s changed now.”

“Wait, so is Twilight free? Where’d she go?” Rainbow Dash begged. “Spike, see if you can communicate with her!”

Spike attempted to put quill to parchment but couldn’t get anything to happen. He shook his head. “I’ve tried, but the paper’s just not taking the ink at all.”

“That would make sense,” Rarity offered. “If it is parchment used for magic spells, you’d certainly not want the language changed after you finished it. I’d assume that’s another property of the paper.”

“But Twilight’s still missing!” Pinkie grabbed at Rarity in a panic, shaking her. “What if she’s still stuck in the story?!”

“Hold on there, sugercube,” Applejack laid a hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder. “If we accidentally drew her into the story when we created it, she’s bound to be back in Ponyville with it over.”

“And probably near the spa, since that was the last place I saw her,” Rarity offered.

“Well, what are we waiting for?!” Rainbow has flown over to the window, slamming it open. “Let’s go look for her!”

The others didn’t have to be told twice, and raced down the stairs.

Twilight squinted, the flash of light still blinding her vision. She could see vague shapes around her, and could see the light-blue of sky beyond them, but even blinking as fast as she could, the shapes refused to unblur themselves.

“Hello, anypony there?” Twilight shouted, but got no response. If Daring, Flutterina, or the Lone Silver were nearby, they ought to have heard her. But this didn’t feel like the arid desert. Faint green shapes were on the horizon, which Twilight would have guessed were trees.

“Twilight!” a distant voice called out from behind her. She turned, but her eyes were still watering and trying to readjust, but the voice definitely sounded familiar.

“Pinkie? Is that you?!”

“It’s all of us, Twi!” Applejack’s twang came from much closer.

“Girls!” Twilight was able to see multicolored blobs moving closer to her, but even as indistinct as they were, could recognize them as her friends. She raced towards them.

The group fell into a close hug. Twilight cried with tears of job, relieved to be out of that nightmare. “Oh, we did it!”

“You did it, Twilight, even without your books,” Rainbow offered, giving her a rub on the head.

Twilight smiled, relieved to be back in the normal world. She opened her eyes, finding her vision was slowly coming back. She could tell she was near the spa, where she had started this entire strange journey. Given it was still light out, it must have been only hours even though to her it felt like days had passed. “Oh, girls—”

There was a cough below here. “Don’t forget about me,” Spike retorted.

“Oh, and Spike too,” Twilight grinned. “I probably should have had some of Flutterina’s biscuits because I’m starving. Can we go get something to eat?”

Author's Note

Yeeeaeaaaah, this one took a while to connect the dots in. You think Twilight had problems trying to resolve four stories, I had to resolve five!

The Appendix

It had been a few days since the whole incident. After their celebratory meal, Twilight gathered all the magic parchment, those that Spike had used and the few spare sheets that remained, and taken them back to the library. Even though Spike profusely promised to not touch either, Twilight had placed the pages under a special protection spell that only she could undo.

Twilight had tried to get back into her normal routine to forget about being sucked into her friends’ story: cataloguing new books, resorting the shelves, sweeping the cobwebs out of the corner of forgotten racks. But she couldn’t get her mind away from the event. Even now, days later, she looked up at the shelf in the library where the pages sat, the faint purple glow the only sign of her magic at work.

“I wonder...” she said to nopony. She looked around, making sure that Spike wasn’t around. She knew he was running errands and likely planning on stopping to help Rarity, and shouldn’t be back for several hours.

She concentrated for a moment to unravel her magic on the written stack, and then levitated the pile to her desk.

She sat there for several minutes, staring at the first page with Pinkie’s title, “Twilight’s Big Happy Fun Day”. She knew what the rest of the pages would contain, based on what Rarity told her and her own experience, but never actually read anything beyond a few lines here and there.

Twilight looked out the window, biting her lip in thought. Her curiosity was getting to her. Her friends didn’t speak too much of what happened beyond getting involved in Pinkie’s plan to cheer her up, and seemed to keep their distance from her. Twilight thought that they felt ashamed, knowing their inner selves had been put forth into the story unintentionally and put her own life at risk. Even with the matter resolved, they still quickly hushed up when Twilight tried to ask about it. Spike himself had been hesitant doing anything around the library the last few days without assurance from her, worried that he’d activate some magic spell that laid hidden in the books.

Twilight took another peek at the clock, assured she would have time alone. With a faint smile, she trotted off to the kitchen to prepare a pot of tea and to sit down for some reading.

The slamming open of the library door brought Twilight out of her trance. “Hey, Twi, I’m back!” Spike offered, towing his wagon with some bags of food and other goods.

Twilight blinked several times, her concentration broken. She looked up from the last page of the story—Spike’s hastily written “THE END” staring at her—and realized that several hours had passed as she sat entranced by her own tale. It took a moment to realize that it was Spike at the door, and hastily dropped a long, thick book over the pile of papers. “Oh, um, hey Spike!”

Spike pulled the wagon inside and started to sort out the various bags. “So, you’ve finally gotten around to reading that, haven’t you?” he asked casually.

Spike’s comment took Twilight by surprise, and she turned her back, trying to hide the pages behind her. “Y-you mean this book the Princess sent me? Er, yeah.”

Spike stopped in his tracks and gave Twilight a deadpan stare. “I know you’re reading that story, Twilight. It’s not that hard to miss.” He continued on into the kitchen to drop off some items.

Twilight sighed. “Yeah, I guess I was. My curiosity was finally getting to me.”

“Hey, you’re Twilight, that’s just the way you are,” Spike’s voice called out from the kitchen.

“But I didn’t mean to,” she protested, turning back to the table and removing the book. “I feel like I invaded my friends’ personal space, knowing their subconsciouses were really creating this story. You’re not going to tell them, are you, Spike?”

Spike had come of the kitchen. “Of course I am,” he said flatly, returning to the wagon.

Twilight raced over and knelt down on her legs to look up at Spike. “No, you can’t! Please don’t tell them! What’ll they think of me!”

“They’ll think, ‘Why did it take Twilight this long to read it?’” Spike causally grabbed a jar of quills from the wagon.

Twilight took a moment to process that statement. “Wait, what?” she asked incredulously.

“I think AJ and Rainbow had a bet going too, how long it would take you to break down and read it.” Spike scratched his head. “It’s been, what, four days? I think that means Rainbow’s going to owe AJ a day at the spa.” He laughed. “Oh, I hope I can be there for that!”

“You mean, they knew I was going to read it?” Twilight asked exasperatedly.

“Well, duh! They knew you couldn’t let it just sit in the library without taking a glance. It was just a matter of time.”

Twilight was dumbfounded, and struggled back to her hooves. “But, wouldn’t they have a problem with it? I mean, that’s their innermost thoughts—”

Spike placed his claw against Twilight’s side. “They might have thought that originally, but they’ve all agreed it’s actually rather funny in the end. Well, except for putting your life at risk, but since we were able to get you out...”

Twilight took a sideways glance at the table where the pages laid. “Well, nearly getting killed isn’t always a laughing matter, but... now that you put it that way, it was rather humorous.”

Spike nodded. “And adventurous, and charming, and heroic. It’s actually better than some of those schlock Daring Do knockoffs they put out, according to Rainbow.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes and scrunched her brow. “Hmm. I wonder...”

Spike continued to store the goods from the wagon in various cubbyholes around the library before turning back to look at Twilight. “Uh-oh, I’ve seen that look on your face before. You’ve got an idea, I can tell.”

“Well, if it’s a good story—and if Rainbow says that’s true—maybe others would want to read it...”

Spike nodded. “I think I see where you’re going with this.”

“I wonder if I can get it published.” Twilight started to pace the library in thought. “Oh, I’d have to change the names and everything, and come up with a pen name, and fix up some of the plotholes and grammar mistakes, but...” She stopped and turned to Spike. “Do you think our friends would mind?”

“Mind? They’d probably want to help!” Spike laughed. “They just didn’t know how’d you react.”

“Great!” Twilight came over and wrapped her hoof around Spike. “Let’s just make sure we use the regular parchment this time, right?”

Author's Note

Thanks for all those that commented on this!

I think it turned out pretty close what I originally wanted though I will say that the concept of having the four put themselves in as mary-sues within the story was one that came later (but before posting here), and really helped. I had started with Daring as an obvious point (after dealing with Pinkie's candy town) but once I realized that Daring was a mary-sue of RBD for all purposes, generating fictional versions of the other narrators was rather easy. Which then basically made it a matter of giving them individual stories to pursue that would be able to resolve in a final conflagration that incorporated them all. I do like the idea that this is potentially revisit-able though don't have any immediate ideas towards that at the time.