//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8 
// Story: Universes Apart 
// by Shotoman 
//------------------------------//

"Get back here you little f-"

"Dashie! Watch your language! This is an all-ages story!"

Rainbow Dash dove for the little purple and green blur, missed by a country mile, did, in Pinkie's opinion, a rather impressive face first slide, before leaping to her feat, chasing the little... so-and-so down the P.E. track. She was continuing to yell things that were definitely not suitable for an all-ages story.

To Pinkie's actually rather expert eye, she could tell that the Nnn'tok was teasing Rainbow Dash, slowing down just enough to let its rather athletic and adrenaline fueled pursuer catch up before darting off just as she dove at it. She was almost surprised it didn't go "meep, meep." Oh, wait. It actually did just that this time.

Pinkie waited another two attempts, finally seeing Dash stay face down for a moment, before skipping over to stand over her friend. "How 'bout I give it a try?" she asked with a smile and that rapid-fire "innocent blink" act.

Rainbow Dash, her pride still not satisfied apparently, leapt to her feet, completely ignoring the various scrapes and cuts she'd already accrued, and ran off again. "Nah, I got it."

Pinkie Pie shrugged and sat on the grass cross-legged. She estimated Dashie needed another... five tries or so before she broke down. Contrary to what a lot of people assumed, Pinkie Pie was actually quite patient when the situation called. She could wait.


~DrW~


The Nnn'tok was cornered between three girls and the unicorn statue (apparently Discord had turned off the return portal for the duration of the game). "Easy, girls, easy," Fluttershy coached. "We're not here to hurt the poor thing, and we don't want to scare..."

"Ah got it!" Applejack leapt forward suddenly and wrapped her hands around the little critter.

"Applejack!" Fluttershy cried in alarm.

"Relax, Fluttershy, Ah got it safe 'n sound."

Fluttershy pouted and planted her fists on her hips. "What if she were to bite...?" She was interrupted as Applejack was sent flying between herself and Rarity. She landed with a rough thud some feet away. The Nnn'tok looked positively smug as it lifted one small foreleg, then brought it down with enough force to crack the cement.

Rarity and Fluttershy exchanged a look. "I don't mean to be impertinent, Fluttershy Darling, but I've no plans to get near that thing," Rarity said, attempting to keep her usual haughty tone of voice, but a small shake of nervousness still worked into it.

Applejack sat up with a groan, rubbing the back of her head. "Well, it didn't bite me." Her voice was wobbly and so was her grin, but at least she was awake and in good humor.

The Nnn'tok hopped up to the head of the statue and chattered something back at the girls, something Fluttershy recognized and understood, heavily accented though it was. Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly, but Rarity still took a step back. "Oh, you naughty little thing." The difference in her tone of voice was a subtle one, one that only her good friends usually caught.

Applejack scooted back a foot or two at the sound of it.


~DrW~


Derpy looked up from her dings-when-there's-stuff device. There it was, just in front of the slightly open classroom door. Which it then ran into. Great.

"Why was that door even unlocked after hours?" Other Derpy said in confusion.

"What?" Derpy asked for clarification.

"It's the science lab."

Derpy groaned, but there was only one thing for it. The two Derpy's followed the Nnn'tok in.

"Oh, come on!" Other Derpy said in exasperation. The Lab, normally a pinnacle of organization and safety, looked set up like something from an old mad scientist movie. Every table had glass beakers, jars, and other containers covering them, several set over flame, all of them with various fluids of the various colors of the rainbow, several connected to each other through various glass straws which were moving the liquid from one beaker to the next.

In the middle of it all was the Nnn'tok, which made a noise suspiciously like laughter. Then it vanished. It didn't run and hide among the beakers. It literally faded from view as the Derpy's watched. Then they heard sound of glass rattling as it then hid among the beakers.

The Derpy's shared a look. Other Derpy couldn't help but grin. "We at the fun part yet?" she asked.

Derpy huffed out a laugh of her own. "Yeah. Sure. The fun part." As the two looked at the very complicated, very breakable maze in front of them, she muttered, "I'm gonna kill 'im. I'm gonna kill 'im to death."

Though she did, in fact, notice the slight grin starting to spread on the face of her through-the-portal counterpart, Other Derpy still patted her on the back in a show of camaraderie. 


~DrW~


Sunset Shimmer was making a valiant effort not to laugh, she really was. She was even able to stop more than a snort from coming out, but it was a close thing, and given the look the Doctor was shooting her, he was well aware of her current humor.

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself," he said, his face a decidedly blank mask. They were back in the kitchens again, but this time they were ambushed, and now the Doctor was dangling in front of her, upside-down, a furry, purple-with-green-spots rope wrapped around him and anchoring him to an air vent in the ceiling. At another snort from Shimmer, he rolled his eyes. "You might as well get it out of your system. Go on, then." 

Upon being given permission, Sunset Shimmer laughed. It was the sort of laugh that caused her to hunch over, holding her sides and ignoring the tears in her eyes. The Doctor allowed himself a small upturn to his own lips, even as he felt an ever-so-small tug at his hearts. Her laugh was good-spirited enough, but he recognized in it the desperation of one who hadn't had much reason to really laugh for a long time (Evil laughter didn't count. The Doctor had learned a long time ago that there was actually very little mirth in most evil laughter), and had just recently rediscovered it.

He heard a sound like a balloon being rubbed against and saw the face of the Nnn'tok stretch its way into his eyeline. "Don't suppose you've any plans to let me go any time soon?" The Nnn'tok squeaked at him. The Doctor sighed. "Didn't think so."

After a minute or so, Sunset seemed to calm down. "Are you done?" the Doctor asked, still in the same deadpan tone.

Sunset took another look at him, managed to say "No," then doubled over again, the peals of laughter even more insistent this time. The Doctor rolled his eyes with a little sigh. Good job he had different views on dignity than most sapient life. "So happy to serve," he deadpanned, as the laughter continued.


~DrW~


"Popcorn?" Discord asked, offering a piece to the original Nnn'tok sitting on the couch next to him. The Nnn'tok squeaked and shook its head at him. Discord shrugged and tossed the popcorn into his own mouth before taking a long, slurpy drink from the straws placed conveniently near his mouth -- he was, naturally, wearing one of those hats that held drink cans on either side of them -- as he settled back and divided his attention between the four screens in front of him.

"Oh I have missed this. It's just like old times."