Azure Island: Eclipse of Destruction

by Chaos Knux

Chapter 4: Twilight of Ponyville

Upon Knockout and Shandra telling Applejack the story of how they got there and what was going on with Pinkie Pie, they all decided they would get a small bit of rest in the barn before heading off to find Twilight and Rarity. But Knockout, as was common for him, slept in and they got a late start.

“Stupid echidna, thanks ta you sleepin’ in we may never git to save Rainbow Dash from Pinkie!” Applejack yelled in anger as Knockout was waking up, the sun had already started to set again.

“Say what, the french toast is burning and Jimmy fell into the well?” Knockout mumbled still half asleep, and was then smacked across the face by Shandra who was not in the mood for his stupidity, “HEY! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!”

“For making us late and being an idiot at a very inopportune time,” She replied flatly.

“Guys... Please stop,” Fluttershy murmured, poking her head into the barn.

“We ken fight on the way there, but let’s juss git to Twi’s place as fast as we ken. We got to make up time thanks ta sleepy head,” Applejack drawled as she walked out of the barn and headed down the path leaving the others behind.

“What’s with all the grumpy people in my life? First Ryan, then Shandra, and NOW Applejack!” Knockout complained as he got up, stumbling a bit as he remembered the wound on his leg as he limped out of the barn. “Ow, and I still have this messed up leg.”

“Quit being such a baby, Knockout,” Shandra scoffed as she walked by him rolled her eyes.

“Oh, um... please, can we just go?” Fluttershy muttered quietly, “I don’t want to see anypony else get hurt...”

After a long while of walking they finally reached Ponyville, by then Luna had already risen the moon and everything was silent. They walked down the deathly silent streets on their way to the library where Twilight lived.

“So, this is where the one named after a horrible, HORRIBLE book lives?” Shandra asked with a scoff.

“Excuse me? What do ya mean ‘named after a horrible book’? ‘Ow would y’all like it iffin someone made fun o’ your name?!” Applejack asked in a rather angry tone.

“Uh, where we come from Twilight from what I’ve heard is the title a horrible book, never read it though.” Knockout chimed in. “But if you don’t mind, we should TRY to keep things down a bit seeing as it is rather late and people are trying to sleep...”

“Yeah, like YOU, Mr. Sleep-in.” Shandra barked at Knockout, who in return rolled his eyes.

“Twilight, are you in there?” Fluttershy softly asked while she knocked on the door, no response was heard.

“What part of ‘people are trying to sleep’ did you not understand Fluttershy?” Knockout asked getting the feeling he was being ignored.

“I know, but normally she is up late studying...” Fluttershy said while she gave another knock to the door as it suddenly creaked open a bit. “Oh my, is she home?”

“If she was, whah would she only part way open the door?” Applejack asked as she walked up to the door and pushed it open, and shock covered her face. Inside was a complete disaster-zone: books thrown all over the floor, and several bookcases had been toppled over. There was literally no sign of any life in there, “We were too late? BLAST IT KNOCKOUT, LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE!”

“WHY AM I ALWAYS THE ONE BEING BLAMED FOR EVERYTHING THAT GOES WRONG!?!” Knockout yelled back at Applejack, his anger had finally spilled over. “EVER SINCE SHANDRA POPPED UP I’VE BEEN THE BLAME FOR EVERYTHING! WHY ISN’T IT SHANDRA’S FAULT, THIS ONLY STARTED AFTER SHE POPPED UP!”

“Actually, from what Ryan had already told me, you got blamed for a lot before I showed up, too.”

“What in the wide, wide world of Equestria is going on down there!?!” A voice called out from a room above them, they all turned to the stairs they saw when they stepped in as a lavender unicorn walked down the stairs looking a bit annoyed. “I am TRYING to get so- oh, Fluttershy! What are you and Applejack doing here this late at night?” she stopped for a moment and looked and the Knockout and Shandra. “And WHAT are those creatures, if you came here to ask me what they are I don’t think any of my books cover those.”

“Didn’t we already go through this back in the forest?” Shandra asked, finding it strange that the purple pony could have forgotten already.

“I haven’t been to the forest in a week, I don’t know how I could have met you before.” Twilight asked, showing a bit of a shock while noticing the creature could talk. “I guess I’ll introduce myself. I am Twilight Sparkle, faithful student to Princess Celestia.”

“Don’t you mean Twilight Sparkles?” Knockout asked raising a eyebrow. “At least that’s what you said in the forest...”

“What in tarnation is goin’ on?” Applejack asked confused by the whole matter. “Are you sayin’ there was a Twilight in the Forest y’all ran intah that ain’t this Twilight?”

“Well...” Fluttershy started, being a bit nervous. “I did think I hear someone say “Okie Dokie Lokie” behind us, I turned around to see if Pinkie was there and only saw Twilight...”

“So wait, Pinkie dressed up as Twilight, and in the bags was....” Knockout froze mid-sentence and turned a shade of green. “I... think I am going to get sick now.” Knockout said dashing over to a window as he gave the flowers outside his last thing he had to eat.

“Hey Knockout, what are you doing here?” A familiar voice called out. Looking up Knockout saw a Rainbow maned pegasus that he figured must have been Rainbow Dash.

“Guys!” Knockout called out into the libary. “Rainbow Dash is alive!”

“Of course she’s alive.” Twilight said looking at the echidna with a face of confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Long story made short, Pinkie is going around killing people and Rainbow Dash’s number came up today.” Shandra gave the abridged version.

Rainbow Dash flew in and landed in the middle of the group. “Why were you guys so worried about me going over to Pinkie’s place, we had a great time!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “She had found a great costume to pull a prank on some ponies that she knew and she had me help her with it!”

“Oh really? What did it look like...?” Fluttershy asked someone nervous if she was really seeing Rainbow Dash or not.

“You sound... different, than before, Rainbow.” Shandra asked, aiming a suspicious squint at the flying fanatic. “Did you inhale helium on the way here or something?”

“Well that had something to do with it, it’s sorta funny really.” Rainbow Dash said thinking for a moment. “The idea was that we would swap places for the day, I would be Pinkie and she would be me. And boy you should have seen the faces when they saw I wasn’t really Rainbow Dash!”

“Wait... WHAT!?” Twilight exclaimed, catching the slip.

“Ooohhh phooey” Rainbow Dash said wings slouching down, the next line the voice changed dramatically. “I was going along so good, but oh well.” The phony pegasus put her hoof on her mane and pulled on it, upon pulling on it the cover came off showing the crazed dark-pink pony staring at them. The rest of the costume fell off rather quickly afterwards, this caused Fluttershy to give out a small squeak and pass out, slumping against Shandra’s leg..

“Now THAT’S just plain creepy!” Knockout said stepping back, having the urge to give the plants another taste of his lunch. “How could you DO such a thing, making horse-flavored cupcakes is ONE thing. But WEARING a pony is just plain wrong!”

“Oh silly, I was going to stuff her but I then remembered the rest of my friends! I didn’t want to come in here like this KNOWING you would beable to catch the second I showed up, so I used this as a disguise!” Pinkie giggled as she brought up her tail, which flashed in the light revealing the knife that was in it. “So! Who’s ready to make ♪cupcakes?♫ Knockout, Shandra, Applejack, Twilight, Fluttershy?” She looked around the room and gave off a evil smile.

“Uh... none of the above?” Knockout asked getting ready to fight when something landed in-front of him, stabbing into his boot barely missing his foot. “My... Battle axe?” Knockout asked puzzled while picking it up.

“Oh you silly-filly, I have to give you SOME sort of a way to play too!” Pinkie said before tackling Knockout to the ground again. “But you are too slow again!”

Knockout quickly tried to grab his axe but the crazed pony quickly took it in her mouth and flipped Knockout over and put in around his neck and got him into a arm lock of some sort. “Gah! How’d you do that?!” Knockout gasped while trying to break free, failing miserably the whole time. “A little help here guys?” suddenly the pink pony froze.

“I think I like this game.” Shandra said as she re-holstered the gun she fired to stun the crazy pink assailant and knocked her off Knockout into the only bookcase still standing.

“What is going on!” Twilight yelled in shock at what was going on in-front of her.

“Well I guess you can say, we are on the verge of a war.” Knockout said while grabbing his axe and standing up. “So get your attack spells ready!” Knockout said while charging off at Pinkie who had started to get up.

“I gave you the short version earlier, Pinkie’s gone nuts and wants to make cupcakes out of everyone. She’s already gotten Colson and Rainbow Dash, and I think we’re next.” After this re-iteration by Shandra, they see Knockout fly across the room after Pinkie gave out a loud scream of pain. Knockout landed in the pile of skin that WAS Rainbow Dash as something fell out of his pocket.

“What was I thinking!” Knockout exclaimed while holding up the strange medical syringe. “Ryan gave this to me in the event someone was found dead or mostly dead, he claimed it would be able to bring them back with some of the magic he was able to gather in one of our battles!” Knockout quickly got up and spread the skin of the rainbow maned pegasus out, he notice a bag beside it, upon opening it bones spilled out along what he feared was a brain.. “Ugh this will be messy. Can you guys hold Pinkie off me for a while, I am not sure how long this will take!”

“And you didn’t pull that out when we found Colson... why?” Shandra asked, facepalming. “Whatever, let’s get going with this plan.”

“HEY! What do you think you are doing snooping around in somepony’s stuff echidna!” Pinkie said from a wall, the noticed that Knockout’s axe had her pinned there but wasn’t going to hold her for much longer. “When I’m out of here I’ll show YOU what it’s like to be pulled open and snooped around in!”

“Like hay you are, Pinkie. Now snap outta this!” Applejack scolded loudly, trying to buck Pinkie in the head. But Pinkie ducked and the kick loosed the ax from the wall and freed Pinkie instead. “Oh, horsefeathers!” was all Applejack could manage before she was pinned to the floor by the pink earth pony.

“I got her!” Twilight said as she set up a magical sphere around Pinkie. “Magic Bubble, that should keep her! Now help me get some more stuff over here to make a small wall around her!” Twilight said while motioning to some of the fallen bookshelves.

“On it!” Applejack quickly ran off to a bookshelf on the ground and got a rope out and tied it onto it and started to drag it over when she heard a popping sound. “Oh what now?” Applejack asked as she sees Pinkie come flying at her with Twilight standing shocked at how she managed to break free.

“Suuurrrppprriiisssseee!” Pinkie said with a smile on her face that quickly turned to a frown that was full of fear as she got a buck to the head sending her to the roof, Twilight took this chance to strap Pinkie up there with some sort of a magic web.

“That should keep her!” Twilight said in a pleased tone as Pinkie squirmed around. “How’s Knockout doing?”

“I don’t know if this will work or not, seeing that I forgot WHERE to place the needle...” Knockout said as the now more-or-less filled skin of Rainbow Dash was laying on the floor. “Where should I put it you think? Near the brain, the heart, in the back?”

“I wouldn’t be so sure, she’s teleported before. Through a wall.” Shandra informed Twilight before turning to Knockout. “Glad he told me about it then, directly to the b--” Pinkie then appeared out of nowhere and kicked Shandra in the face, interrupting her.

“Hey, looks like someone pays attention to me!” Pinkie said with a grin “Now, how about we stop delaying this, hmmm?”
“Better idea, YOU take a nap!” Twilight said as a purple glow surrounded the crazed pony and Twilight’s horn.

“Twilight, I’m not even... tired...zzzzzzzzzz” Pinkie tried to protest, but soon fell asleep.

“Sleeping spell, I knew it would come in handy sometime.” Twilight said as she walked over to the sleeping pony.

“Berry nahs” Shandra said, holding her nose.

“Uh Shandra, it’s not a smell, it’s just a simple alteration of a mind control spell.” Twilight corrected noticing what Shandra was doing. “You see, The mind control spell is a---”

“I dunn really nid to know, bud dat kick really herd is aw.” Shandra interrupted Twilight. “Brain, KO, brain.”

“Well, let’s hope this works!” Knockout said as he injected the medicine that was in the syringe into the core of Rainbow Dash. “Come on........ work work work!”

They all stood there with eyes fixed on the pony as they waited for something to happen, the silence was enough to drive anyone mad.

“Are you sure it was going to work?” Twilight asked looking at Knockout worried.

“...Darn, I kinda liked her too.” Shandra admitted, “She had that tenacity that just screamed ‘Always there to help, always able to.’”

“I don’t know Twilight, the medicine was made in my world so who knows...” Knockout said before turning to Shandra “And Shandra, you only knew for a few minutes. How do YOU know that was who she was?”

“The way she talked, it was arrogant, but not obnoxiously so, like she’d actually earned a few bragging rights.”

“Urrghh, can you guys keep it down, somepony is TRYING to get rid of a killer headache...” A voice mumbled from the middle of the room, they all turned and saw Rainbow Dash move her hooves over her ears.

“She’s ALIVE! IT WORKED!” Shandra cried out, her voice once again losing its steely and cold tone.

“See, I CAN do things right!” Knockout said rejoicing that medicine didn’t fail him. “Now all we have to do is find Rarity!”

“You’re right, I’m sorry I was so hard on you before Knockout. Let’s get go--” Shandra started, voice still noticeably kinder.

“Whoa whoa whoa, did I hear that right?” Knockout asked interrupting Shandra. “You, APOLOGIZING to ME? Did your brain get scrambled when Pinkie kicked you?”

“No Knockout, I guess I never told y--” Shandra once again began, only to be cut off.
“Oh fer crying out loud, don’t blow this Knockout!” Applejack interrupted not wanting a fight to break out. “Twi, can you go get your Element Of Harmony, we may need them to knock some sense into Pinkie here.” Applejack motioned to where Pinkie WAS at, only to notice she was gone.

“Oh bother.” Knockout said quickly looking around. “Twilight, get your thing and let’s hightail it out of here. We will have to find some way to carry Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy too, seeing they are both still out of it....”

“Don’t worry, I got that.” Twilight said before giving out a loud yell. “SPPPIIIKKKEEEE!”

A small purple dragon walked down from the stairs still half asleep. “What do you want, can’t I get ANY rest?” He paused for a moment when he saw the mess that was made in the room and the two newcomers, but didn’t pay much notice to them.

“Spike, get the wagon, we need it to carry Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. We need to leave here as soon as possible.” Twilight instructed as she walked up to the her room. “I’ll be down in just a second.”

After the others had got the two Pegasi onto the wagon, Twilight walked back down the stairs and gave a look around. “Ready?” Knockout asked as he grabbed his battle axe from off the floor.

“To make cupcakes?” A voice chimed in causing them all to jump.

“YES, WE ARE READY!” Twilight yelped as she dashed out of the room, followed by the rest of the group.