5137905
Oh, as a quick footnote, I said I was going to plagiarize and I did. The Xoloitzcuintle quill is totally Ghost of Heraclitus's invention, from a story about the Royal Librarian Guard—the royal guards Twilight winds up with, to match Celestia's regulars, Luna's Night Guards, and Cadance's... hippy Woodstock guards? Anyway, it's a much cooler idea in his story, and I only pray that someday he actually finishes that thing and publishes it because obviously. My plagiarizing is supposed to be something like a lesser artifact. His is full-on Hand of Vecna, and the only one of its kind. And freaking awesome.

Anyway, nerdgasm over. Back to glorious TwiDash.

5137920
I can't decide if it's degenerate or not that we toss out antagonists as quickly as they're created.
Probably the answer is of course it is, but this is a silly collab story so it's entirely necessary and excellent.
Anyway, excited to see where we go from here, after Bradel takes us through another threat escalation and subsequent meta-analysis of previous events! (We should really tally these things up.)

5140976
Well, y'know, we've been pretty short on the "rare memorabilia" front up until now, so I thought a Daring Do style artifact might be cool to toss in. We're also still regrettably short on the "grumpy editors", but maybe someone else can tackle that bit.

I mean, I guess I could have made Daring escape and live to fight another day, but this is the TwiDash group and I mostly wanted to get the two of them to make out.

5141445
The rare memorabilia was good, and the make-outs were good, but they're untrustworthy make-outs. One can never rest easily until the ship makes out and the make-outs are trustworthy. *nods*
Still good though.

I have an idea for this, but it'll be one hell of a plot twist.

MS word labled this at around 1165 words. Could have easily done more, but nah.

Enjoy the words!

It was a long silence, the kind that can easily turn any normal situation into something awkward. Only this wasn’t a normal situation, nor was it any less awkward.

“So you do what to write about us, don’t ya?" Rainbow teased.

The blush on Twilight’s face deepened. “Well… we would make a good couple right? I mean look at this whole adventure we’ve been on today.”

“Yeah, it’s been awesome, especially awesome because you’ve been here the whole time!”

Both Twilight and Rainbow just stared blankly at one another, a mixture of confusion and disgust lining their faces as they realized the cliché romantic adventure dialog that had just left their mouths.

“So Twi, about this quill…?”

Twilight began to think as Rainbow finished her question. “It doesn’t make sense. If the quill was being used by somebody in our world, there would be some sort of magical signature or sign I could have picked up on earlier.”

“And…?”

“And that means it would have completely disqualified either of us from using it, or anybody at this convention, including Edge Lord himself.”

“So…?”

“So I don’t even know if the quill itself is currently in our world or not. Which mean we have to somehow come up with a way to find the quill.”

“But…?”

Twilight simply glared metaphorical daggers at Dash. Rainbow swore she could feel actual daggers still from where Twilight had punched her. “Twi, just spell it out.”

However, none of what Rainbow had said permeated the large expanse for a brain that Twilight called her own, for she was deep in thought again, trying to connect the pieces to this puzzle. Only this puzzle was beginning to resemble one of those 1000 piece monstrosities that always seemed to be missing one piece. It was even worse when it was three dimensional puzzles…

“Wait,” she mouthed, not paying any attention to the hoof waving frantically in front of her face trying to get her attention.

“That’s It!!” She screamed in joy, causing Rainbow to stumble back and fall into the pile of rubble that once was the chandelier.

“What’s it?!”

“We need to go back to Fanfic Alley, now.”

* * *

It’s raining books, hallelujah. It’s raining books, no seriously it really was raining books from where Rainbow Dash stood. The second they walked back into the ruin that was once a bustling Fanfic Alley, Twilight had barreled her way into the piles of papers and books, evidently searching for something.

“Er… Twi? Do you need, like, help or something?” She asked, dodging a published fanfiction of Daring Do and the Kami Sutra Kalamity. She gagged briefly.

“Here it is!” Twilight was levitating a copy of The Encyclopedia of Magical Artifacts, a book that from Rainbow’s point of view looked to be close to 3000 pages in length. The book made an audible thud as it was dropped on one of the surviving tables. Rainbow swore she could hear the table pleading for mercy.

“What are we lookin for?

“Well, there has to be more to the Xoloitzcuintle Making Quill that I remember, and it has to have a page in this book,” Twilight explained as she leafed through at a frantic pace. “Here it is.”

The page showed a picture of what appeared to be a quill, but the feather had a painting of what both Rainbow and Twilight easily agreed was one of the oddest dogs they had ever seen in their entire life. “Legend has it that the creator of this quill painted a picture of its dog onto the quill for good luck.”

Rainbow was too busy marveling the beautifully molded flank right in front of her face as Twilight was bent over the table, reading out sections of the entry.

“Here we go! So the quill is unique in that it has the ability to warp itself through space and time, and also can be found in EEP!!!” Twilight leaped high into the air, and looked backwards to find Rainbow Dash’s head right where she had been standing moments ago.

“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight had an even deeper blush on her face than earlier, but it was beaten by miles by the color of Rainbow’s cheeks.

“Yeah?”

“..Did you just sniff my flank?”

“...Can’t I blame the quill?”

“Yeah, let’s just say it was that.” She calmly turned around and continued reading. “…and it can also be found in different dimensions. Extensive magical research has been done over the years to produce a spell which would allow a unicorn to teleport to the quills exactly location, and was completely only a few moons ago.”

“Welp, you know what that means?"

"No?"

"We gotta try it out!"

“Dash, I don’t even know if this spell works, let alone any of the dangers of possibly warping ourselves into another dimension,” Twilight deadpanned.

“…Do you got the spell so we can come back?” Twilight simply nodded. “So what’s the big deal then egghead?”
“Well… besides possibly dying, not much. Seriously though, is it really worth taking all of the risks?”

The second she was done, Twilight gasped and her entire body went rigid as she felt Rainbow’s lips meet her own. She could swore the temperature of the room shot up by 30 degrees, but it was a irresistible warmth as she melted into the kiss. Twilight wasn't sure if this was the quill still talking, but she was starting not to mind it oh so much.

“Does that answer all your questions?” Rainbow asked, panting lightly after they broke apart.

Twilight shot her a small little grin before focusing on the lines of the spell, and soon they both felt the room start to suddenly get windy. Papers and other debris began to kick up around them, and soon they saw a black and rainbow wormhole open above them.

Then, they vanished.

* * *

Twilight felt like she was stiff beyond belief, like if she had decided to put on a full body cast as her attire for the day. It was far from comfortable, but was the least of her worries as she examined her surroundings.

She was on a piece of wood, a huge one at that, and beside her was Rainbow Dash, who also wore the same expression of dread, fear, and pure confusion.

“Where the buck are we?!”

Before her was a mirror, and she examined what surrounded her. Everything seemed huge compared to Equestria, the chairs surrounding their giant slab of wood were ever bit as big, even the mirror itself was huge. She could have sworn she saw the biggest living creature walk by at the same time, and was taken aback, for it even dwarfed Tireks’ monstrous proportions.

“Is that what Lyra was talking about when she mentioned humans?”

Then her gaze settled on her own reflection in the mirror. More specifically, her and Rainbow’s new selves, entirely made out of plastic it seems, or was than vinyl?

Twilight screamed internally.

Have Fun Minds Eye.

Twilight kept her eyes stubbornly fixed on her reflection.

Wiggle... your left... hoof.

For seven days and night, that thought had dominated her consciousness. It was Rainbow’s idea after she heard Twilight’s internal scream of horror. The two of them were linked somehow—Twilight theorized it was a natural result of her magic finding a way to reach the outside world after her attempts at any kind of spell failed—and each others’ company soon proved to be the only thing keeping them sane.

Twilight tried not to think about the much smaller human standing on the shelf above them. She didn’t know why the giant man saw fit to dress the poor thing in a skin tight yellow suit or force three knives into each of his hands, but she had never managed to reach his mind the way she could Rainbow’s.

The same held true for all the humans standing next to him as well.

And even for the ponies standing next to her and Rainbow.

They all just stood there. Still.

Lifeless.

Stop it, Twilight. Just wiggle... your left... hoof.

She tried to draw strength from Rainbow’s iron will. That single-minded determination to move was their only hope of breaking the spell on them without her magic, but it was a slim chance at best. Twilight didn’t know why the giant had spared their lives so far. He had never failed to look at them every day. The look in his eyes... he was happy. Content. Seeing them helpless before him brought a smile to his face.

You’re thinking too much, Twilight. You never touched his mind, right? So he doesn’t know we’re alive. Just wiggle... your left—

A thunderous round of snoring interrupted her. The giant lay under them, but the early daylight was streaming through his window. It was only a matter of time before he was up, and Twilight had more hooves than the number of times he had left his world over the last week.

Why would he leave? The closet in the (relatively) small kitchen seemed to have an endless supply of noodles for his consumption.

Not to mention his possession of the quill.

Three of them, in fact.

She knew the quill could bend the properties of space and time, but she always assumed it had been a quill of some sort. Now she saw the truth: the giant had no need of such a mundane tool. The three magical boxes gave him a window into all the dimensions he could hope for. One large, and mounted on his wall. Another smaller, and it rested on a table under the mirror. The third fit in the palm of his hand. Each one gave him a window to another dimension.

She had seen things ponies wouldn’t believe. Attack ships firing laser cannons among the stars. Creatures she had no name for battling each other for the amusement of humans watching them. Cities destroyed. Lives ended. And the giant moved on to another universe like nothing had happened. All those moments would be lost in time, like tears in rain.

Wiggle... your left... hoof.

She would have clenched her teeth if she could. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right! She had even seen the giant pause entire worlds on a whim!

But the worst... the worst was Equestria. It was bad enough he could control worlds as they happened, but he could also see the past. He watched as Twilight tried to explain the Pinkie Sense away. He watched as she took a bath with Gummy in the tub.

And his laughter echoed in her memory still.

If he could see that, he could see her in any of her most private moments. It was unbearable to think of. He could see her bathe. He could see her sleep. Rainbow had wanted his blood. She was tempted to agree, but above all, she could not let this injustice continue.

She wiggled her left hoof.

She wiggled her left hoof!

Twilight thrashed her leg about, forcing herself back into flexibility inch by inch. Rainbow’s triumphant laughter boomed in her mind, and she started to do the same.

Wiggling and trembling quickly gave way to taking a step forward for each of them, and the shells encasing them both cracked. Rainbow shook herself off, and shards of the spell scattered along the shelf. Twilight did the same, and feeling her normal coat and hair again was like a breath of fresh air after spending an eternity underwater.

And then they shrieked in agony as the flow of magic in the world filled them to the brim, forcing them to grow dozens of times their current size in the blink of an eye.

The shelf gave way, and they crashed into the bed below, bouncing all three bodies off it and onto the floor.

The not-so-giant-anymore human scrambled to his feet. “What the hell—?!”

Twilight snared his neck and hands in set of magical stocks. She yanked him back down to the floor, leering over him. “You don’t have the right to speak after what we’ve seen! Rainbow, destroy the quills.”

“With pleasure,” she said, walking towards the giant box.

The human glanced between them. “Q-Quills? What’s a quill? I mean, I know what a quill is! That’s a Samsung—”

Rainbow kicked all the way through the magical screen. The impact shook the walls, and the box fell when she pulled her legs out.

Whatever the human was going to say devolved into a pathetic whine as his jaw went slack, his eyes bulging out of his head.

“The next one,” Twilight instructed, pointing to the table.

“No! Wait! I need that to do my job—”

“No more slaves! Smash it, Rainbow!”

Rainbow reared up, and brought her hooves crashing down. “Seven days, chump!” She struck it again. “Seven days without being able to sleep! Walk! Anything!” One more strike broke the device in half.

The human sobbed. “I... I built that from scratch!”

Twilight whipped a hoof across his face. “And how many have you killed with it?! You control entire worlds and all you do is put the people who live in them through misery!”

He rocked back and forth. “I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know what’s going on!”

“You’re losing your power, that’s what’s going on.” Twilight sneered down at him with all the contempt that came from watching him as he cheered during battles to the death, how he laughed at betrayals, all of them playing before her eyes at his whim. “The least you could do is accept it with some kind of dignity.”

“I don’t have any power! I don’t even have a car!”

Rainbow walked over from his bedside table, the third quill in her hoof. Symbols adorned its brightly lit face, but behind them all was the image of the strangest dog Twilight had ever seen—a dog wrapped up in what looked like a robe and had two giant green ears sticking from the side of its head.

Twilight hissed. “No power? Tell me this isn’t the Xoloitzcuintle Making Quill!”

He looked at the object, and at the other two Rainbow had already destroyed, breathing heavily. “That... that’s Yoda. He was my dog.”

Rainbow smirked. “You put a picture of your dog on this thing. For good luck?”

“Maybe? I... I just like having him close. I lost him last—”

Rainbow dropped it to the floor, and both ponies stamped it into dust while the human wailed in the background. “Job done, right? The quill’s destroyed. Let’s go home!”

Twilight released the human, and he immediately started scraping through the broken remains at her feet. “You abused such an incredible gift. We have to make sure it’s gone for good.”

He looked up at her, tears streaming down his face. “I don’t know what the hell is happening here!”

Energy built around the tip of her horn, and Twilight bent over, dropping a glowing ball on his carpet. “You may want to get out of here in the next ten seconds.”

The human stared at the ball as it began to sputter and burst. “Oh come ON! What do you want from me? Blood?!”

“Five seconds,” Twilight said, pulling in Rainbow with a wing and casting another spell. The human shrieked and ran for the door before they were sucked into the wormhole, it closing behind them just before the blast could follow them through.

They both dropped in a heap on the floor of the convention. It was over. Seven days had passed, but for all Twilight knew, the quill had altered the flow of time in that world. Didn’t matter. It was over. The quill was destroyed, and their wills belonged to themselves again.

She grasped Rainbow’s hoof. “Welcome back to freedom, Rainbow Dash.”

1500 on the nose according to Gdocs.

I also laughed way too hard for what's happening here. Let me know if you did the same.

Bring it home, boys!

5151721 I dunno why, but I had a serious nostalgia moment reading your piece. Dunno how, it just kinda did. Mostly of the show 'Reboot'.

I managed to catch up again, before the ending
Great Job.
A bit strange in places but damn I'm laughing.

5151721
For some "strange" reason I think we should dub that human "Bill".

Well that was certainly interesting! I hope I've left this in a pretty good place to finish it off!

Twilight groaned as she pulled herself back to her hooves, ignoring the stream of muttered curses coming from Rainbow Dash as the pegasus stood. The two bedraggled ponies leaned against each other for support as they took stock of their surroundings.

The convention center was pristine. Gone were the smoldering ashes and scraps of fanfiction, changeling goop, and melted remnants of booths. There wasn’t a single armed bat pony or a shard of black crystal in sight, replaced by only a few nondescript ponies hardly sparing the two a glance as they pinned up maps and posters.

Twilight’s eyes narrowed. Everything was almost too perfect and she slowly turned, scanning the room for any hint of fanfiction. She reached out to Rainbow with a thought, asking if she noticed anything amiss. There was no reply. Twilight sent out another ping of thought, but paused halfway through. There was nothing there in her mind besides her own thoughts and far too much silence. The constant stream of consciousness that had flowed between them was gone.

Twilight twisted around, only to meet Dash’s own sad gaze.

“T-twi,” she stammered. “I can’t hear you anymore.”

Twilight swallowed and nodded. “I guess when we finally broke the spell that held us, the influx of magic overwhelmed our link.”

“Oh,” Dash replied, not sure of exactly what else to say. Her ears fell back and she looked away.

Twilight’s ears twitched at the silence.

“Well, well, well if it isn’t Princess Twilight and Rainbow Dash.”

Twilight and Dash jumped at the sudden voice behind them. A crackling glow of magic formed around Twilight’s horn as she pulled her head down and twisted around, just barely missing Rainbow as she pulled back a hoof in preparation for another punch.

A beige stallion yelped in surprise and leaped back just enough so the charged horn and pegasus punch stopped less than a hoof’s length away from his face.

“I’m sorry! It’s no problem you’re early, I swear. I was just a little surprised that’s all!” he apologized, scrambling back from his would be attackers.

“Oh, thank Celestia, it’s just one of the convention workers.” Twilight sighed, letting her magic fade away. “I thought that was going to be another random villain.”

“Random villain?” The stallion echoed in confusion.

“So do you think we’re finally bad fanfics and the Xoloitzcuintle Making Quill.?” Rainbow asked, ignoring the confused pony.

“Bad fanfics? Xolo-what’s-it quill? Is there something going on here that I should know about, Princess Twilight?” he asked.

“Oh,” Twilight blinked, turning her attention back to the convention pony. “Uh, no. It’s nothing that Dash and I can’t handle. Thank you.”

“Great, then I’ll just get back to work. There’s still a whole lot more to be set up before the convention can begin.” He bowed to Twilight before quickly turning tail and running off.

Dash’s eyebrows rose. “Did he just say what I think he said, Twilight?”

Twilight didn’t answer. Instead she made her way over on shaky hooves to one of the posters pinned on the wall. It read, “Welcome to DoCon! Everypony needs a bit more adventure in their life!”

Dash snorted, muttering something about too much adventure.

Twilight tore the poster away from the wall with a pulse of her magic, drawing Dash’s attention. “This makes no sense.” Twilight frowned. “We spent a full week in that other dimension but we get back and were here before it all started. What does that mean? Are we somehow back in time, before this all started?”

Dash rubbed her chin with a hoof. “Hmm. If we were trapped by the Xoloitzcuintle Quill’s magic then maybe we couldn’t really destroy the Quill itself. Inside its spell we thought we broke when really we only disrupted its magic and freed ourselves. That would leave us at the point where this whole mess began and the Quill trapped us in the first place.”

Twilight stared dumbfounded at Dash, jaw dangling in the slight breeze of the air conditioning.

“What?” Dash asked. “Do you know how many of those fanfics we destroyed had to do with time travel?” Dash pointed out.

Twilight frowned but shook her head. “Whatever, this just means that we’re almost free. We just have to destroy the Quill one last time. Now where is it?”

Rainbow pointed at the bottom of the poster Twilight was holding. It said in all bold, “Don’t forget to check out our 100% authentic Xoloitzcuintle artifacts in Exhibition Hall A!”

“Huh, well isn’t that convenient.”

Well, hope this works well enough. Word count I got was 1455.

Twilight and Rainbow quickly made their way to Exhibition Hall A, both eager to end this after all that's happened. Rainbow was leading as she flew above any staff pony they chanced upon, while Twilight was galloping just below the pegasus, both earning confused looks from the staff.

As they arrived at the closed doors of their destination, both Twilight and Rainbow paused before entering.

"This is it, this is the where the Xoloitzicuintle artifacts are on display." Twilight stated out-loudly.

"Hm." she nodded affirmatively, "Come on, Twi, let's do this."

Without another word, the duo walked in. Upon walking in, they found two other ponies inside the hall talking to one another. Both male, and based on how they were dressed, one was just a regular staff member, the other seemed to be of much higher social standing. The more important individual, was a rather tall, dark-blue coated stallion with two-toned black and grey mane and tail. He was also wearing an expensive coat and a tie with a gemstone embedded into it, along with a pair of sunglasses.

"Hm? If it isn't Princess Twilight Sparkle." the dark-coated stallion stated, "To what do we owe the honor?"

"Hello, sir." Twilight greeted.

"Sorry to tell you this, but the exhibit isn't open yet."

"Can't you make this one exception?"

"I typically don't..., but I suppose just this once for royalty." he then turned to the staff pony, "Go help the others with the Xoloitzicuintle tapestry, it should still be in the back of the carriage; and, no lollygagging, we're on a tight schedule as it is."

"Yes, sir." then the staff pony left.

"Some of the displays aren't quite ready, just yet, but if there's anything you're particularly interested in, perhaps I can be of service. My name is, Golden Tome."

"Golden Tome?! As in the CEO of the Golden Horse Publishing Company?"

"One and the same, Princess." he replied with a smirk as he pulled out a personal business card from his coat and gave it to Twilight.

"The Golden Horse what now?" Rainbow asked.

"Golden Horse Publishing is the group in charge of printing and distributing the Daring Do books, Rainbow Dash."

"I thought that's what, um...A.K. Yearling does."

"She's the author of the book, a publisher is in charge of editing, printing, and distribution, especially on a large scale as the Daring Do series; but, we're getting off topic." she then turned her attention to Golden, "We were hoping on having a look at the Xoloitzcuintle Making Quill."

"The Quill...? What do you want with that dusty, old feather?"

Twilight was about to reply, but was interrupted by Rainbow, who decided to wrap a fore-hoof around Twilight as she replied, "This is gonna sound weird, but we wanna destroy it."

"What?!" Golden exclaimed.

"Rainbow!" Twilight said in an upset tone.

"I can't let you destroy an artifact!"

"Listen, you need to, otherwise something crazy is gonna happen." Rainbow stated.

"No."

"Didn't you just hear me? Something bad is gonna happen if we don't."

"Make me."

Rainbow then glared at Golden and immediately got closer and grabbed him by his tie.

"Hey don't grab that!" he shouted just before the tie broke off, revealing it to be clip-on, as well as that it was enchanted as Golden's body flashed in a bright light showing him to be none other than Ahuizotl.

"Ahuizotl!" Twilight exclaimed as she took a couple steps back.

Rainbow immediately went into action, and attempted to strike Ahuizotl right in his snout. He was able to dodge though and managed to counter-attack by grabbing her in one of his right hand and slammed her into the ground.

"Let. Her. Go." Twilight stated as she charged her horn.

"Go ahead and try it, Princess, and I'll crush this stupid pegasus." and tightened his grip around Rainbow, resulting in her giving a pained groan.

"Let her go, Ahuizotl, please." she said, her tone gaining a slight tone of her sounding like fearful begging.

Ahuizotl gave a confused look upon hearing her, then sighed as he loosened his grip on Rainbow, "Very well, but with these conditions: that you don't try fighting me, and that you forget that you ever saw me here. Do that, and I'll let her go."

"Only if you answer these two questions." earning sneer from Ahuizotl, "One, why are you here? And two, where is the real Golden Tome?"

"I am Golden Tome."

"You can't be serious!" they heard Rainbow groan.

"I'm quite serious. Miss Do isn't the only one who lives a double-life." he then let Rainbow Dash go.

Twilight immediately went over to see if Rainbow was injured in any way, as Ahuizotl retrieved his tie. As soon as he put it back on, his form changed back to Golden Tome, except his eyes which still had that golden-yellow glow to them.

"As for why I'm here, as the CEO in charge of assisting Miss Do with her book, I have a cut of the profits gained from whatever is charged, so I have to represent the company." he explained.

"Why would Daring Do's archenemy work with her?"

"It's a complex relationship. She gains permission to use my likeness for her book, and a recognize-able enemy; and I don't sue her defamation, and a cut of the profits. You don't think what I do to keep up with her is cheap do you?"

"Your lying!"

"Actually, he might be right, Rainbow." Twilight remarked, earning a surprised look from the pegasus, "It's technically against the law to write about an individual that could be considered damaging to their reputation, even if Ahuizotl does fit her description."

"Not entirely, she does exaggerate every now and then." Ahizotl remarked, "But, I have had enough of this conversation. Care to explain to me why you want to destroy the Quill?"

"Like Rainbow said, something bad is gonna happen during the convention unless we destroy it."

"Protecting it so you can use it yourself?" Rainbow accused.

"I'm skeptical about it's powers really. Also, how do I know you're not lying to me about this?"

Twilight hesitated before replying, "You'll have to take it on good faith. I can give you my word, that we have nothing else to gain other than saving the convention from destroying the Quill. Believe me, even if we told you, it's highly likely you wouldn't even believe us."

Ahizotl silently looked at the duo, looking carefully for any signs of deception from them. Everything from their facial expressions to whether their tails, ears, or hooves twitched to signify they're lying. After a moment he visibly relaxed and said, "Okay, say I do believe you, what makes you believe you can destroy something as powerful as the Xoloitzcuintle Making Quill?"

"What do you mean?" Rainbow asked.

"If your friend, Twilight's, reputation is accurate, she should know already that the Quill is supposedly a very powerful. Not only can it affect those around it to its bidding as it sees fit, but also the ability to warp itself between time and space, and cross dimensional barriers."

"It's just a quill! It can't be that hard."

"Don't underestimate it. Anything like that typically either can protect itself, vanish, or simply re-manifest itself as something else later. Say you do destroy it, who's to say it can't reappear a week later as itself or a something like a pen or a type-writer somewhere else?" he explained as he put his sunglasses back on, "It is a tempting artifact for me, I'll admit, but again, I'm skeptical about it. Mostly because I don't believe something so powerful could exist outside somewhere protected, much less at a convention. Plus, I like having control over myself."

"We'll take our chances, even if we can't destroy it, we can't let it cause any harm to those attending the convention. If it reappears later, we'll deal with it then, for now I just want it gone now." Twilight stated firmly.

Ahizotl sighed, "Alright, you'll find it's display case on the other end of the hall here." and pointed in it's general direction, "Can't miss it." then turned to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"If you're successful, I will need to find a replacement that looks similar to it. It's one of the listed displays, so I have to have something on display for it. Also, remember, you didn't see Ahizotl here, you saw Golden Tome, understood."

Twilight and Rainbow nodded.

Twilight then turned to look at Rainbow, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, it'll take more than that to keep me down."

"Good to hear." and gave Rainbow a quick hug, earning a slight blush from the pegasus, "Come on, let's finish off that quill."

Sonuvabiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-
Didn't realize it was my turn... A day left! I can do this!!! XD

Well... Here's my really crappy slash short slash really lazy contribution to this piece of random we've all written... Just over 500... Yeah yeah sue me.

Twilight had many things on her mind. The quill, Daring Do, Ahuizotl, Rainbow Dash, Rainbow's flank...

"Wait what?"

"What's wrong, Twilight? Thinking of my flank again?" She said sarcastically with her signature smirk.

Twilight became flushed before clearing her throat. "Don't be silly miss Dash. I would never even consider such a thought!"

"Whoa since when did you become Rarity? Do I need to punch you again?!" She panicked with a raised hoof.

Twilight reacted quickly by enveloping her friend's hoof in her magic aura. "I'm not Rarity! I'm just stressed that we haven't found the darn quill yet!"

"Umm... We passed that five minutes ago."

A few things happened from there. A bit of shouting, magic beams breaking walls, random displays flying they the air, the usual...

"Better?" Rainbow asked, cautiously placing a hoof on her friend's heaving shoulder.

"Yes... But why in the name of Celestia didn't you tell me!"

"You seemed to like the rear view."

"RAINBOW!!!"

"This must be it Rainbow... The quill..." She looked into the glass case skeptically.

"Yeah, but it just looks like any old feather. You sure this is it?"

"Most likely. Now help me open it." She said slowly grabbing it with her magic.

"We could smash the glass!" She said raising her hoof.

"RAINBOW NO!' She screamed barely stopping the mare, but not before a pink hoof slowly pushed the box onto the ground.

Twilight looked on in terror as a pink blur had grabbed the quill and was holding it near her face.

"Gee, Twilight, this is what was responsible for everything?! Wow..."

"PINKIE PUT IT DOWN YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THE CONSEQUENCES COULD BE!"

"PINKIE GIVE THE WILL TO TWILIGHT!"

"Awwwwww!!! But it's shiny like a cupcake with glitter!!"

"Pinkie we gotta destroy that thing before everyone is put into an unbreakable spell!"

"You mean the bad fanfiction? Yeah that's pretty bad. You know the author writing this chapter named himself after me?! I mean yeah I'm a super party pony but he doesn't even like parties!"

Rainbow and Twilight looked on baffled. "Wait... You know the author?!"

"Well there's a whole lot more than just one writing this story! And destroying this quill won't help any!"

"Rainbow..."

"Yeah Twi..."

"Sonic Rain punch... Now!!!"

Let's just say when the rainbow disappeared and the dust settled, Rainbow Dash was sprawled onto the ground and Pinkie was standing above her, eyes green and hazy.

"Rainbow, my favorite kind of sssnack..." She hissed.

"Don't touch her!!!" Twilight screamed,charging her horn and unleashed a charge of magic, which the pink mare simply took to the face without even flinching.

"So much for "One Punch Rainbow..." The quill isss mine!! Mine!!" She shouted before her pink mask was shed and she transformed into the very being of the night, and the sky went dark.

"With this quill the history of Equestria will be changed into MY rule!!!"

"Hi everyone what did I... Oohhh..." Pinkie said trotting up beside Twilight. "Umm... The author is sorry to the next one... To be continued?"

5175197

A few things happened from there. A bit of shouting, magic beams breaking walls, random displays flying they the air, the usual...

What.

"PINKIE GIVE THE WILL TO TWILIGHT!"

What 2x

"Sonic Rain punch... Now!!!"

What 3x

"Rainbow, my favorite kind of sssnack..." She hissed.

What 4x

"So much for "One Punch Rainbow..." The quill isss mine!! Mine!!"

What 5x

So... Much... RANDOMNESS.

5175643 Pinkie is my name being random is my game and confusing all the same!!!

5175719 ...Me like.

Alright, well, here is the final bit. I wrote it all in one sitting. Total word count for this last chapter comes out to about 1,827, which is over the 1,500 word limit, I know. However, I'm gonna go ahead and invoke a TvTropes rule. The rule of "I don't give a shit, deal with it."

The morning light had finally crept up the side of Twilight’s bed, warming the left side of Twilight’s face where she lay, her head snuggled comfortably into her pillow. She sighed, her body relaxing into the downy pleasure of her mattress and blanket. This was the perfect start to a day with nothing scheduled; a day with absolutely no activities planned whatsoever.

She stretched her limbs out in front of her, her hooves sticking off the left side of her bed slightly. A few soft pops reached her ears as her joints reached their limits. The room beyond her blanket-covered-cocoon was warm, but it wasn’t quite as warm as her bed, so she quickly tugged her legs back inside. Twilight had planned to get up and begin her morning ablutions, but the warmth … It called to her …

Unfortunately, so did Spike.

“Twilight, get up! Rainbow’s here to see you!” he shouted from somewhere downstairs, before adding as an afterthought, “Oh, and breakfast is ready!”

A sigh parted Twilight’s lips. She didn’t mind seeing Rainbow, they were practically best friends and all, but did Rainbow’s company have to interrupt this perfectly lazy morning? Especially after all the hard work she had done the day before … Something about quills, and the razor’s edge of a knife … Actually, she was having trouble remembering. Grogginess was a hell of a drug, after all.

She sighed one last time before opening her eyes and casting her blanket away with her magic, neatly folding it in mid air before levitating it to its daytime resting place at the foot of her bed. She also summoned a brush from her dresser and began fixing her bed head, looking around her room a little as she did.

Twilight couldn’t place what, but there was something wrong with her bedroom right now. It was the same room of her library that she had always had, though. The same bookcases built into the walls, the same circular windows that had been uniquely carved into the tree’s outer bark. It was all the way it was supposed to be … So what was wrong?

Twilight yawned as more of her mental faculties came back to life. She sent the brush back to dresser and instinctively used the muscles to open her wings and stretch them. Except … Silly Twilight, she didn’t have wings! That’s right, she was just a unicorn. She couldn’t fly. Now the reason why wings didn’t open up from her back when she tried to move those muscles made sense. She didn’t even have those muscles!

Giggling to herself, she walked to the door to her room and opened it up, the room beyond looking blurry and undefined. She blinked a few times, and then suddenly everything was normal again, almost as though the room beyond had taken a few seconds to finish rendering. That was odd. Still though, that wasn’t too abnormal. She had seen her castle do that sometimes too, hadn’t see?

Except, Twilight didn’t live in a castle. She didn’t have wings, and she didn’t live in a castle, and she most certainly wasn’t supposed to be somewhere else right now. She nodded, a satisfied smile on her face as she moved carefully down the stairs. She didn’t have her wings anymore, so if she slipped she couldn’t – Okay, enough was enough!

Twilight stopped moving down the stairs. What was wrong with her!? She kept thinking things that felt natural to her, as though they were just supposed to be correct, but they weren’t! It was like somepony had gone and implanted false memories and datums in her head while she was asleep, and now she was just subconsciously acting with them! It was almost as though somepony was trying to make her … act out of character …

- - - - -

Twilight gasped as she opened her eyes, her senses and her memories flooding back into the forefront of her mind. The Xoloitzcuintle Making Quill was sitting directly in front of her on the floor, little black arcs of electricity moving between it and her. Most of them were being rebounded by the shield she had cast on herself earlier in her adventure which blocked her from being taken over by the bad fanfictions, but it seemed the Quill itself was just too strong. Some of it’s power got through her shield regardless.

Nearby, Rainbow and Pinkie Pie were likewise being affected by the black lightning arcs. Twilight briefly wondered why Pinkie Pie was even there before deciding it wasn’t worth questioning. The Quill realized it was about to die, so it retaliated by placing each of them inside a separate story. No doubt Twilight was about to be shipped with Rainbow again …

Twilight grunted as she redoubled the strength of her protective shield, realizing that the Quill was probably going to completely break through it at any second. Rainbow’s shield was completely gone, after all! Twilight got to her hooves and –

Twilight blinked. Suddenly the black lightning was gone. The force that was trying to press itself against her mind had vanished entirely. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were both groaning as though coming too with a really bad hangover. What had happened? Why had the Quill’s magic ceased it’s assault?

… Actually, where was the Quill? Twilight looked down at the floor and began to feel worried when she couldn’t locate it. Suddenly it came back to her, the words that Ahuizotl had said to her not even ten minutes before.

“Don’t underestimate it. Anything like that typically either can protect itself, vanish, or simply re-manifest itself as something else later.”

A feeling of dread dropped into the bottom of her stomach, an icy chill expanding out and making it hard for her to swallow. She had failed to destroy the Quill … Now somepony else, somewhere else, was going to suffer because she–

Wait, no, there it was. She had stepped on it when she stood up, snapping it clean in half.

“... Huh.”

“... Twilight?” Rainbow Dash groaned, her voice more full of gravel than usual.

Twilight blinked a few more times, her disbelief over how easy that was not shaking off as easily as she might have hoped. “Um … Yes, Rainbow?”

Rainbow got to her hooves as well, her attention likewise on the broken Quill. “I … I’m sorry.”

Twilight didn’t need to even think about what it was Rainbow was apologizing for. “… I’m sorry too.”

Neither of them looked at each other, not knowing what to say. After several pregnant moments had passed, Twilight activated her magic and levitated the world destroying artifact’s broken remains into a nearby wastebasket, thus removing its threat to the world for good.

Rainbow sighed. “You know, it was fun while it lasted, I guess.”

Twilight allowed herself a small smile. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“You know, having feelings for one another.”

Twilight just nodded, the both of them still pointedly not looking at the other.

“I guess it was all just a part of the bad fanfictions, huh? I mean, it seems weird that we still felt attracted to each other even when we were free from them …”

Twilight sighed, her posture slouching just a hair. “We were never really free, though. As long as the Quill was still intact, it was still affecting us. None of … None of that was actually us.”

Rainbow lowered her head and looked at Pinkie Pie’s unconscious form who, despite having awoken from the Quill’s dream, had apparently fallen into an actual nap. She opened her mouth to respond but ultimately shut it, not really knowing what she would say anyways.

Twilight turned and, levitating Pinkie Pie behind her, began heading back the way they had come, the sound of her hooves muffled against the velvet red carpet that wound it’s way through this part of the displays. “We should go home. I know the con technically hasn’t … even opened yet, but …“

Rainbow agreed wholeheartedly. “But I think I’ve experienced enough of this con for a single weekend.”

The two of them trudged their way back to the entrance of the con, the noise of the pre-convention hype reaching their ears before they ever even got to the big double doors.

Rainbow came to a stop and, as she had already been trailing slightly behind Twilight, watched as Twilight kept going, getting a little further away with each hoofstep she made. From this angle she couldn’t see the expression on Twilight’s face, but …

“No.”

Twilight stopped, her ears turning backwards before she herself followed suit, looking at Rainbow with a confused expression, and perhaps a small bit of hope. “‘No,’ what?”

Rainbow looked Twilight right in the eyes. “No, it wasn’t real. It wasn’t actually our thoughts. But … Was it really so bad?”

Twilight’s expression improved a little bit. “R-Rainbow … What are you saying?”

She closed her eyes and sucked in a breath before opening them again, her jaw set in a determined fashion. “I’m saying, I’m tired of being alone, Twi. Would you like to go out with me? Like … for real?”

Twilight’s expression slowly grew from one of shock to utter joy. She practically skipped up to Rainbow Dash, a grin now on both of their faces. Twilight threw her front hooves out and embraced Rainbow in a hug, her wings soon doing the same. “Yes, Rainbow Dash! I’d love to go out with you! Like, for real!”

Rainbow just laughed, returning the hug as tight as she could. A few moments passed before they realized that the pre-con noise had gotten a lot louder. The con had officially opened and ponies were now pouring in and flooding past the two of them, Pinkie Pie still floating comfortably asleep right next to them. Murmured whispers reached their ears as well, but they didn’t let go of their hug.

“Sorry Twilight. It looks like I didn’t choose a good time to ask you out, huh?”

Twilight just laughed. “I don’t mind. Besides, perhaps some of them will write a fanfiction about us?”

Rainbow shivered. “Oh god, I hope not … I’ve had enough of those this weekend.”

Twilight let go of the hug and sat on her rump as Rainbow did the same, though they continued to hold hooves together. They had eyes only for one another. “You know, some of that bad fanfiction might not be so bad … if we were reading it together.”

Rainbow Dash smiled as she shook her head. “I don’t know, Twi. Some fanfictions are just plain bad. But … I’d be willing to read a thousand of them if I was doing it with you.”

Twilight just smiled back, already making a mental list of the worst fanfictions she’d ever seen. She and Rainbow Dash were going to have a whole lot of fun.