Tick Tock Tick Tock
"Ahem. I'm sure all of you know the reason as to why I called this emergency meeting."
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...
...
"Hmm. I see, then in that case. The reason I called this meeting is because-"
"Twilight's the imposter."
"WHAT?!?!"
Rainbow Dash, clad in a cyan blue spacesuit, shrugged as her "friend" slammed her purple-colored, spacesuit-covered hooves onto the round table that the five girls were all standing around.
"You heard me Twilight." Rainbow said, narrowing her eyes at the flustered mare. "I think it's you."
The purple alicorn fumed.
"You thi- on what evidence?!"
"Oh please Twilight." Rainbow sighed, crossing her forehooves as she shook her head from side to side. "We all know that you were the only one with Rarity when she got got in Reactor."
"Wha-but I was doing my task like everypony else." She then waved a hoof over the cafeteria they were currently standing in. "Do I need to remind you just who was the one who found the body AND called this meeting in the first place?!"
Rainbow did not look convinced.
"I don't know Twilight. Sounds kinda sus to me." She then turned to the mare clad in an orange suit beside her. "Right, Applejack?"
Applejack, after fixing her signature stetson atop her helmeted head, hummed thoughtfully.
"Well. While Twi does sound like she's telling the truth." Hearing that, a flicker of hope rose within Twilight's hear-
"She could also be pulling the wool over our eyes something fierce. So yeah Rainbow, mighty sus." -Aaannd that hope was immediately flung into the deepest depths of space. Well...maybe she still had a chance.
"Pinkie! Fluttershy! What were you two doing?"
Fluttershy, suddenly put on the spot, fidgeted with the zipper of her yellow spacesuit.
"W-Well. I was in Med Bay, be-because my little friend here got a scratch on his leg and I had to get a band-aid for him. Isn't that right, Mister Crab?"
Turning to the creature in question, all eyes fell on the small, brown, t-thing that uttered a high pitched squeal as it nodded its head, which also acted as its body, apparently, before it raised one of its four claw-like legs, the bandaged appendage evidence to all of the yellow one's innocence.
"O-Oh." Twilight said, her confidence crumbling significantly as the suspicion over her apparent guiltiness steadily increased. "A-And you, Pinkie?"
The present pink ponk, name and suit color matching wonderfully, looked up and around to the others.
"Oh me?" She innocently asked, to which the other ponies present nodded, some more frantically than others. "Weeelllll. I was here in Cafeteria, dining on some de-licious desserts. Even Applejack can vouch for me, eh Applejack?"
The orange apple farmer nodded.
"Eeyup. Saw her in here with her helmet off, chowing down on a whole chocolate cake as I was coming up from Storage."
"I-Is that so?" Twilight said, her ears splaying back as she turned back to Rainbow Dash shanking her head once again.
"Tsk Tsk. Well Twilight, at least you tried." She then turned to the others. "But I think we've all heard enough. Let's just vote now and-"
Suddenly Fluttershy.
"W-Wait a minute p-please."
Turning to the timid mare, Rainbow dash blinked.
"Fluttershy? What is it?"
Looking down at her fidgeting hooves, the mare seemed to be thinking of something before she suddenly asked.
"W-Well. Everypony else did say where they were at the time when Rarity got...got."
"Yeah. And?" Rainbow Dash asked, raising a brow at the mare, who was now fidgeting more than ever.
"We-Well. Everypony said where they were...except...you, R-Rainbow Dash."
"Huh?"
"A-HA!" Twilight suddenly yelled, pointing a hoof at the cyan-suited mare. "She's right! Everypony else said where they were, but not once during this entire meeting did I hear you say where you were!"
Rainbow was left incredulous for a moment before she shook her head and smirked.
"Pleease, Egghead. I was down in Weapons doing my task, so don't think that you're free just because I-"
"No you weren't, Dashie."
...
Dash blinked, then chuckled.
"Uh. Hehe. Yeah Pinkie, I was."
"Well that's funny. Because when I was heading through Weapons from Navigation, I never saw you."
"W-Well that's because I was in Admin, which was why I also knew that Twilight and Rarity were-"
"Now hang on a second, Dash." Applejack suddenly said, tipping her hat up a bit. "I was in Admin for a good minute or two trying to work that darn card thingamajig before I gave up and left to go to Storage, and I woulda clearly remembered if you came in, which you didn't may I add."
"W-W-Well that's because I just flew in to check the cams real quick and-"
"A-HA!" Twilight said once again, while once again pointing a purple hoof at the rainbow-maned suspect. "You can't check cams in Admin. The only place you can you do that is in Security. And, if I'm not mistaken..."
She then violently slammed both her front hooves onto the table.
"IS RIGHT NEXT TO REACTOR!"
The others gasped.
"We-We-Well, y-you see, the thing is-" Rainbow was at a loss for words. "Look I'm not the impostor okay?!"
Oh how the turn tables.
With their roles now seemingly switched on a dime, Twilight took a moment to chuckle as she slowly shook her head and shrugged.
"I don't know, Rainbow." Twilight said, a ghost of a smirk reflecting off of her helmet's visor. "Sounds kinda...sus to me. What do you girls thinks?"
"V-Very sus."
"Mighty sus, sugarcube."
"Super-duper sus indeedy."
Rainbow Dash couldn't believe what she was hearing. She just couldn't. For not a second ago had her friends, whom she had known for years, had all suddenly turned against her so quickly. Had she not suddenly been thrown up against the proverbial wall as she was now, maybe she could've gathered enough sensibility to properly defend herself. But now? When her back met wood and flames licked at her hooves? Well, there really was only one last thing left to do.
"Well girls. I don't know about any of you, but I'm definitely voting off Rai-"
"NOOOO!!"
With a quickness comparable to that of a bat pony out of Tartarus, Rainbow dashed out of the room and down an adjacent corridor, leaving the girls momentarily mute by her sudden flight. Luckily though, Twilight was the first to recover and properly react.
"After her!"
---
"Hah. Hah. Heh. Where...where'd she go?" Twilight asked tiredly, trying and failing to catch her breathe before her visor completely fogged over.
"I-I'm not sure." Applejack said as she wiped a hoof over the brow of her helmet. "Maybe she went into the vents or something. Probably hiding somewhere right now, slippery little varmint."
Swearing under her breathe for her inability to snoop out the rogue pegasus sooner, along with her negligence of regularly exercising, Twilight sighed tiredly as she allowed time for her heart to steady and for her limbs to cease their wails of agony. And once that was done with, she looked up to her three remaining friends.
"Well girls." Twilight said, drawing their attention. "We've gotta find Rainbow. Fast. ...Any ideas?"
Give or take a few seconds of humming in thought later and Applejack suddenly had an idea.
"I think I've got something."
"That's great, Applejack! Let's hear it."
"I reckon we ought to split up."
...
"What."
Seeing, or more so hearing, her friend's lack of immediate enthusiasm, Applejack was quick to explain.
"Look girls. The way I see it, we won't find hide nor hair of Rainbow at the pace were going now. So I reckon we should break off into pairs and search both halves of the ship. That way, if one of us finds her on one end of the ship, and she dips, the other pair will be waiting to catch her on their end."
Hearing that plan, and after giving it some thought, Twilight could see it actually working in their favor, but still...the risks were as high as they were evident.
"Are you sure about this, Applejack?"
The apple pone raised a brow.
"Got a better idea, sugarcube?"
"I..." She started, before giving up altogether. "sigh. No, I don't. So who's going with who?"
"Hmm, well I reckon that-"
"Why not Twilight and Fluttershy go to the back end of the ship while me and Applejack take the top?"
Looking over at the pink pony beside her, Applejack raised a brow.
"Really Pinkie? How'd you figure that?" She asked, to which the mare in question simply giggled.
"Hehe, well family's got to stick together, riiiight?"
"Hmm. I guess so."
"Hehuh. Besides, I think Fluttershy'll probably feel a lot safer with Twily, right Fluttershy?"
She then turned to the pegasus who, true to her name, flinched when the others looker her way. Still though.
"Um. I-I would, yes." She said, before turning to the alicorn. "If that's okay with you, Twilight?"
"Oh. Um..." She replied, looking from the slightly shaking mare to her less-than-slightly aggressive crab companion. "Sure. I'm fine with that."
"Greeeat!" Pinkie cheerfully cheered before turning and hopping off towards the front half of the ship. "Come one Applejack, we've got a Rainbow to finesse."
Seeing her relative hop away without her, Applejack blinked once before turning to the other two, shrug, then proceed to follow after her, all the while speaking to her friends as she left.
"You two be careful now. Good luck. Hey Pinkie. I think you meant to say find earlier, right? Right?"
Watching the two leave, Twilight then turned to regard her partner, well...partner plus one that is.
"You ready, Fluttershy?" she asked, to which the yellow suited pegasus nodded once, as did her crab friend as well.
"Mhm."
"Well, okay then. Come on, We'll start our search in Reactor and work our way up from-"
VOOM
"Twilight! The lights! I can't see! What happened to the lights?!?!"
"Fluttershy, calm down! The power must've just gone out. Here, give me a second."
Charging up her horn, Twilight's visor began to glow a bright lavender, which in turn casted a eerie lavender glow over the metal surfaces of the hallway they stood in. And once the darkness had been somewhat pushed aside, Twilight was able to see her friend quivering close beside her, holding her left forehoof in a vice-like grip, while the other was being clenched by all four of Mister Crab's quivering claws.
"Th-Thank you, Tw-Twilight." the pegasus croaked once she could see her surroundings. "Mister Crab was just telling me how he was scared of the dark."
It's no problem, Fluttershy." She said, before narrowing her eyes. "These lights on the other hoof, that's a problem."
"Wh-What should we do?" Fluttershy hesitantly asked, her side doing its best to get familiar with Twilight's as they continued to rub up against eachother.
"Well, turn them back on of course." She said before shaking off Fluttershy's hooves and heading off down in the direction of the opposite end of the ship. "And it's a good thing too that I memorized the layout of the ship before we started. Let's go, Fluttershy!"
And with that being said, the alicorn briskly took off, her destination already in mind as her traveling companions quickly followed after her, unsure of the destination, but adamant to stay near their only source of light.
---
CLICK CLICK CLICK
VOOOOM
"Fhew. There we go, lights are now fully restored. Thanks for watching my back, Fluttershy."
"You're welcome, Twilight."
Stepping away from the large assortment of wires and switches, Twilight sighed once more before exiting Electrical and joining her friend in the hallway.
"Okay. Now that the lights are back on, we need to quickly return to our search and-"
"Twilight!"
"W-Wait, did you hear that?"
Fluttershy blinked before tilting her head.
"N-No I don't think so. What did you he-"
"Twilight! Fluttershy! Help!"
"That sounds like Pinkie Pie! Come on!" Twilight exclaimed before she quickly bolted down the hallway, her friend and her friend's friend hot on her tail.
---
Closing in on where they had thought they heard their friend yelling from, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Mister Crab skirted around another corner before they came to a skidding halt just outside of Admin, utterly shocked at the scene which played right before their very eyes.
There was Applejack, or well...her lower half that is, lying limp on the cold metal floor. Yeah, Fluttershy wasn't too quiet when she saw that. And then there was there friend Pinkie Pie, struggling and kicking to get free from their used-to-be-friend Rainbow Dash who had her neck in a tight hooflock.
Though the air seemed to be strained for Pinkie as Rainbow's hold got tighter and tighter, the appearance of her friends at the door gave her a newfound burst of energy as she fell to floor, bringing Rainbow into a barrel roll before she somehow managed to get atop her.
"Twilight! Fluttershy! You girls came at just the right time! Rainbow Dash suddenly came out from a nearby vent and stabbed poor Applejack in the back when she wasn't looking!"
With a grunt and a twist of her body, Rainbow suddenly gained the upper hoof and managed to pin the pink mare below her before growling behind her visor.
"Oh that's real rich coming from you Pinkie Pie!" She then turned to Twilight and Fluttershy. "She's the real imposter! She killed Applejack, not me!"
Hearing that, Twilight blinked owlishly before shaking her head and narrowing her eyes at the pegasus.
"Liked I'd believe that blatant lie, Rainbow! Now let Pinkie go, now!"
The pegasus only growled again.
"Grrrr. Some Egghead you are, Twilight! Can't you see that she's playing both of you?!"
"Let. Her. Go!"
Quickly scrambling up onto her back hooves, Rainbow threw Pinkie into another hooflock with one hoof while the other was held one of Pinkie's hooves behind her back, causing the captive mare to yelp in pain.
"Oh yeah, I'll let her go." Her grip tightened. "Right out the airlock!"
Squirming with all she had, Pinkie coughed as she raised a hoof towards her two friends.
"Twilight. Fl-Fluttershy. H-Help me. Please!"
Beads of sweat rolled down Twilight's cheek as she and Rainbow stood in standoff of of one another, frozen in place and unsure just who'd make the first move. Fluttershy was also at a loss as to how to proceed, reduced to a quivering, teary-eyed mess as she kept looking back and forth from Twilight to Rainbow, hoping that things would just end peacefully.
Sadly in that instance however, peace was never an option.
SCREACH
Suddenly and unexpectedly out of nowhere, Mister Crab came to Pinkie's rescue as he had managed to sneak around the pair and attack Rainbow from behind. Jumping and landing atop her helmeted head, all the while uttering an alien war cry, the pegasus was caught completely by surprise by the little head-humper's act of heroism, and had released her grip of Pinkie just enough to where the mare was able to brake away and join the other two pones as all three watched the pegasus spin and tumble, trying desperately to brake away from the suction-like grip that Mister Crab had on her.
"GAHH! Get it off me! Get it of- woah!"
Catching her hoof on a loose cable, Rainbow was then sent stumbling backwards, forehooves flailing violently before she spun around and fell face-first onto the room's main console, where upon making contact with its surface, there then came a sharp crack, followed shortly thereafter by a thud as her unconscious body fell to the floor following her literal head-on collision with the console's edge.
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...
...
"Did we-" Fluttershy said, fumbling for words. "I-Is she..?"
Shaking her head, Twilight slowly approached the downed Dash.
"No. She's not dead. Just unconscious." She stared at her form for a moment before turning to the real savior of the day. "And as for you Mister Crab, thank you so much for saving my friend."
Accepting her kind words, the little headcrab nodded his headbody before returning to his friend's side, where he was then scooped up and promptly smothered with affection from one very relieved butter-yellow pegasus.
Sighing in relief, Twilight then ignited her horn, and soon Rainbow was floating limp behind the alicorn as she and the others left the room. But as the three were walking away, Twilight turned to check in with the pink mare beside her.
"Are you okay, Pinkie Pie?"
Looking over to her friend, the usually bombastic party pone gave an unexpectedly simple little smile and nodded.
"Of course, Twilight." She then giggled softly. "After all, I'm just glad to be beside my real friends."
---
"Oh yeah, Mister Crab. I almost forgot to thank you for saving me earlier. Here, have a cookie. It's super sugary."
"Do we really need to do this to her Twilight?"
"We do, Fluttershy. It's the only way."
"Ughh. My head."
Blinking her eyes open, Rainbow Dash found herself laying in a small chamber devoid of windows save for the smaller ones on the doors, two of them in fact, with one that looked to lead into the ship while the other lead- oh no. Quickly scrambling to her hooves, Rainbow ran towards the other door and began to frantically bang on it. And after the fifth or sixth bang, she saw Twilight walk up into view.
"Twilight!" Rainbow yelled, banging once more on the metal door. "Let me out of here now!"
The alicorn on the other side however, remained unamused and unwavering.
"Its over Rainbow, we already know you're the imposter. So just accept your fate."
"But I'm not the imposter! I never was!"
Twilight raised a brow.
"Oh? Then why did you run away in the beginning when Pinkie found you out?"
Despite the cold undertone in her friend's words, Rainbow still pressed her case, despite her feelings preferring otherwise
"Because...because." She hesitated. "Because I was scared, okay! I didn't want to be the one voted off first so I ran!"
"Is that so." Twilight said, stepping away from the glass. "And I suppose killing Applejack was just you 'being scared' as well?"
"NO! I didn't kill Applejack! I Never did!"
"Right. Right." Twilight said, sarcasm dripping off of her every word. "Because Pinkie Pie was the one who did it, right?"
"But she did! I saw everything!"
"Oh! From the vents I assume?"
"Wha- NO!" Rainbow exclaimed, gritting her teeth in frustration. "I never went into any vents. I hid in Storage the whole time, but when I saw Applejack and Pinkie heading to Admin I decided to follow them." She then narrowed her eyes. "And when I peeked around the corner, I saw her standing over Applejack's dead body. And that's the truth!"
Narrowing her eyes as well, Twilight studied Rainbow's features for what seemed like an eternity before she finally sighed and turned her back to her.
...
"T-Twilight?"
"Goodbye, Rainbow Dash."
"No, no wait Twilight don't-!"
Beep
---
"Well...we did it. We won. But at what cost?"
"Aww. Cheer up Twilight! Look on the bright side!"
"Bright side?" Twilight repeated incredulously as she turned to face her second to last remaining friend. "Bright side?! I don't know if you haven't already noticed yet Pinkie, but two of our friends are dead and we just threw out the third into the cold vacuum of space. What 'bright side' could you possibly be referring to?!"
Seeing and hearing her friend obviously upset to the utmost extreme, Pinkie decided that it was best to just be herself and simply giggled.
"Weeeellll. You survived, didn't you?"
"I-...I survived?"
Pinkie nodded.
"Yupadoodles!"
In the time it took Twilight to blink once, then twice, then three times, she had finally come to realize the true significance of those words and the weight they bore on her already feeble-feeling heart. And after turning back around to stare at the starry blackness beyond the large glass window before her, the same two words were once again repeated.
"I...I survived. I survived. I survived?"
Taking a moment to mull over those two words, or more so the context regarding those words, a random thought suddenly came to Twilight's mind. One that seemed so insignificant it would've made zero sense to even recognize it, much less bring it up. And yet.
"Wait a minute. Pinkie. Why are you just saying I survived? What about Fluttersh-"
Splach
Thud
...
"...Fluttershy? What about her, Twilight?"
And there it was. That single, random, insignificant thought that had come far too late to mind. And for Twilight? Poor, foolish Twilight? That thought had costed her everything. Actually, Speaking of insignificant thoughts that come to mind at the worst time, why not have another one?
"So it was you then, Pinkie."
She giggled. She just bucking giggled.
"Hehe. Always was, Twily."
"So...when you said that Rainbow stabbed Applejack in the back."
There was a moment of silence before she giggled again.
"You know Twilight, I'm surprised you of all ponies didn't notice that sooner. And you said you knew how to play games like this. Hehe, silly Twilight."
"Sniff. S-So that's it? I'm the one who- sniff -who threw the game for everypony else?
"Aww. What's wrong Twilight? Gonna cry? Gonna piss your suit maybe? Maybe...shit and cum?"
"..."
"Well, don't worry Twilight. Because none of it was actually your fault. Wanna know why?"
"...W-Why?"
"Because silly Twilight, the truth is, the game was rigged from the start."
---
"Soooo? How'd I do?"
"You were amazing, Pinkie! Best imposter I've ever seen yet!"
"Awww, stop. You're making me blush! So can I have I my cookie now? You said that I could have it if I won us the game. So can I have it? Huh? Can I? Can I?"
"After that play, You definitely earned it. Here."
"Yaaaaay!"
MunchMunchMunchMunch
"Ah, mm. I-I gotta ask. Gulp. Was what I said earlier really necessary?"
"You mean what I typed earlier? Oh yeah, definitely."
"Huh...okay then."
...
...
"Say Pinkie, you're real good at playing up the innocent act. Would be real awesome if we could do this again some other time. What do you say?"
"Hmm...well I would love to play some more...but I gotta get back home and apologize to Twilight and everypony else. You understand, right?"
"Right, right, I understand. Still though. You can be a real terrifying if you put some effort into it. You know?"
"Hmm, maybe. But I think I'll just settle for being Pinkie."
"Heh. Sure. Whatever you say. By the way...there a-...there a reason why you're so tiny?"
"Well duh! It's so I can fit on your screen silly!"
"Uh-huh."
"Plus, who doesn't like giant cookies?"
"You...you got me there, Pinkie."
"You know I do."
"Sooooo...mind staying for one more game?"
"Hmm...I don't know."
"...I'll throw in another cookie and a couple headscratchies?"
"Johnny you giant hooman son of a bitch, I'm in."