//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 // Story: Stone Cold // by M_D_Quill //------------------------------// Things were coming together. The creatures was in place, everypony in position, and all that was needed was for Twilight to make the first move. The purple unicorn gulped and glanced up into the clouds. The flicker of a rainbow mane occasionally popped out from a cloud. Twilight sighed in relief knowing that at least Rainbow was up there ready to protect her if things went wrong. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Twilight! You’re acting crazy!” the pegasus shouted. Twilight groaned. Even though she teleported out of the hospital room her rainbow maned friend was able to quickly find her, and ever since then she had been lecturing Twilight and trying to convince her not to go through with ‘the crazy idea’. “Do you even realize how dangerous what you are planning is?” Rainbow ranted, “You are going to be talking to something that was able to outrun me! How do you plan on getting away if he starts going after you?” Twilight chuckled and did a quick teleport to the other side of her friend. Rainbow Dash jumped into the air with a squeal. Her face turned beat red and quickly landed on the ground. “Never mention this to anypony...” she muttered with a glare, “especially to Applejack.” Twilgiht giggled and Rainbow intensified her glare, “Sure,” Twilight said, “If you agree to help me.” --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight peered around the corner as the creature sat at a table talking with the Chaos Pony. She glanced around to see if she could spot her brother, but knew she wouldn’t be able to until she turned the corner and was in view of the creatures. He didn’t like the idea any better than Rainbow Dash, maybe even less, but she was thankful she managed to convince him to help. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Twilly, what has gotten into you?” Shining questioned as he barged into the makeshift planning room. “Oh Shining! I’m so glad to see you,” Twilight cheered, “If I get your help things will be a lot easier.” She shifted through piles of maps of the city, marking different locations on them. The large white unicorn snorted and moved close to his little sister, towering over her. Twilight ignored him and continued to focus on her paperwork. “I’m not going to let you do this,” he growled. Twilight looked up from one of the maps with a serious expression. “Wasn’t your order that nopony was to confront them except the Elements of Harmony?” she asked. “Exactly,” confirmed her brother, “and you are not the element. You are the bearer of the element and I will not let you go out there!” The two siblings stared at each other, neither giving any ground. Twilight needed her brother for her plans to have the best chance of success, and obviously he will need some extra convincing. She didn’t want to use this, but she had no choice at the moment. “Where were you when Nightmare Moon freed herself from her moon prison?” she slowly spoke. “What does this have-” “Where were you when Discord broke free from his prison?” “I was protecting the princes-” “What were you doing when the Changlings were taking over Canterlot?” “I was under her spell!” shouted Shining, “I was not in control of myself!” Twilight glared into her brother’s eyes. “The Canterlot Guard are the elite soldiers of Equestria. They are trained to use the the restricted spells solely for destruction in order to protect their country. At the same time, they are taught how to guard themselves from the same sort of hostile magic, and how to notice when such spells are cast on them.” She took breath, “Where were you? What happened to your training, Captain of the Guard?” “Twilly...” Twilight cringed inside as she watched her brother’s defences slowly break, but she really needed him. “Let me tell you where I was. I was right where Nightmare Moon landed, I fought her in the ancient castle where both Princesses used to rule. I fought Discord and defeated him when all hope was lost. I tried to stop the changlings when everypony thought I was crazy.” At each work, Shining’s towering pose crumbled until he hung his head, looking away from his sister, “And I am going to talk to these creatures” Twilight finished, “Are you going to help me or not?” Shining sighed and reluctantly agreed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight finally checked off the last note on her mental checklist. She peered around the corner to see if the two hadn’t moved from their position... yep, they were still there. Her knees were shaking and her heart was beating like a drum, but she knew she had to do this. She took in a deep breath and stood up straight. It was now or never... She closed her eyes and quickly stepped out from her corner onto the street. Once free from her cover, she opened her eyes back up and faced the two creatures. They were still talking to each other, she hadn’t been noticed yet. Thats not be good, she didn’t want to scare them too badly. The best thing to do now was to announce her presence. Twilight sucked in some air and called out. “Discord, I need to talk to you!” x.X.x “Well, last I saw him he was playing with a town called Ponyvial,” Screwball said. I groaned... why can’t this pony answer the question... “Ok, how long ago was that?” I asked The pony twisted her hoof up to her chin (do ponies have chins or just snouts?) and thought for a second. She opened her mouth to answer when a voice called out that chilled my blood... “Discord, I need to talk to you!” I turned my head a and there she was Twilight, purple coat and all, standing at the corner of the street, glaring at me. I knew it... she was after me... I stood up to leave before she noticed me (she was after a guy named Discord), but I tripped over my own feet and fell backward. I crashed into some other tables around me, tipping them over and spilling some liquid on my kilt. And it was orange, yuck! Do you even know how hard that is going to be to get out? I mean, it isn’t hard to get the obvious orange out, but it always leave that slight stain that makes you just look messy... “Oh my goodness, are you ok?” Gah! How fast is that pony?!? Twilight was five feet away from me, watching me like a predator eyeing its prey before the strike. I tried to crawl away, but my arms were very feeling very heavy. Obviously it was my pride as a man holding me down, forcing me to never show weakness to this girl... mare. CURSE THE TERMINOLOGY DESCRIBING OTHER SPECIES! “I’m fine,” I replied calmly, or I thought it was calmly. Twilight’s eyes narrowed and her back arched... like a cat, “Just a small fall, I’ve had worse.” She said nothing and kept staring at me. Didn’t she want to talk? Do I start talking? What should we talk about? Maybe the weath-Hey? Was that a rainbow I saw up in that cloud? I quickly pushed myself up to get a better view of the clouds (which was a lot harder than I thought it would be), and for some reason a big pink bubble surrounded me. I looked around me and noticed that Daddy’s spawn was also surrounded by another bubble. Twilight was also yelling something at a window nearby, but I didn’t see anything in it. I shrugged my shoulders and poked the bubble with my finger. *pop* “...not shield him unless he did something dangerous!” Twilight shouted so loud I had to cover my ears with my hands. I mean ouch! That girls has some powerful lungs! Lungs of a horse, if I might say so. Oh shut up. My head is already starting to hurt because of that unicorn’s yelling and you are not helping... Who said I want to help? Maybe I’ll forget about Daddy and you will have to find him yourself. … I thought so. “Whoa!” Twilight cried out, jumping a couple feet or so away from me, “How did you get out?” “Do you really think a bubble can hold me?” I asked. Is that really a problem with them? Bubbles? “Um... maybe,” Twilight mumbled and quieted down. She started to back away slowly from me, looking into the sky searching for something. Maybe she saw the rainbow too! I was going to ask her if she did, but she glanced at me and her eyes widened. She was up to something, I know it. She is a smart one, I know from the stories she told me. I poked my smallest finger in my ear to try and get the ringing out, but it was a vain effort. I sighed and looked at the unicorn. “So what do you want to talk about,” I asked her, “I have a lot of stuff to do and we are burning daylight.” “Oh, um,” Twilight muttered, “Are you sure ok?” “Me, Oh I’m perfectly fiiiiine!” Wow, did the world just move? Look! it’s the ground.... Slam! Faceplant into the street. Wow, I just lost a lot of cool-points. I reached down and tried to pick myself up, but my hand slipped on some red water. Wait? Red water? I glanced down at my side at the hole the moderator poked into me. It was really flowing out. I glanced up at Twilight and smiled. “Do you have a... valve... so I can stop this stupid leak?” I inquired. Her eyes were really wide by then. She rushed up to me and looked down at my side. She started saying something to me, but it was too quiet for me to understand it... I guess she did break my ears. As I watched her, her hair started to shimmer. It sparkled like the stars I watched every night for the past forever as the statue. But these were different... they looked closer... I reached up my hand to touch the beautiful dots in my sky. My fingers brushed up against one of the stars I heard Twilight gasped. I opened my mouth to tell her how beautiful this lovely pink star was. “Hey... this is pret-” _______________________ Paradox: Hold it... what just happened? Midnight: Story is over, you died and I killed you. Paradox: Now hold on just a second! You can't kill me in such an anti-climatic way! Midnight: Says who? Paradox: Says that mob holding torches and pitchforks that used to be your readers. Midnight: Oh...um... maybe I can write... a little bit more... *nervous grin* Paradox: Good, now rewrite this chapter. I want to die with gun blazing, the city lit up in flames, and a girl handing onto my leg in a loving manner. Midnight: ... ... ... I think I'll risk the mob. Paradox: What?!? Midnight: Until next week everyone! _______________________ And no worries, the story isn't over quite yet.